Total Drama Biohazard
by n5d25d90
Summary: Based on the Resident Evil series by Capcom. Chris has a different challenge set up for TDDDDI after he finds an abandoned underground facility once owned by Umbrella. But what happens when things go awry? POV changes each chapter.
1. Chapter 1, Prologue

**This is an idea that I've had for a little while: a Resident Evil parody starring the cast of Total Drama.**

**This fanfiction is an alternate version of Total Drama Drama Drama Drama Island, and a much deadlier version at that.**

**And now I leave you with this:**

**When you're in a dark and windowless room, and all you can hear is your own heartbeat…**

…**how do you know you're the only one there?**

**-X-**

_Summer of 2008._

_Ten years after the mansion._

_Ten years after Raccoon City._

_Ten years after Rockfort Island._

_Five years after Umbrella's downfall._

_A new nightmare begins…_

-X-

AUGUST 29, 2008.

9:00 A.M.

MUSKOKA, ONTARIO, CANADA

PLAYA DES LOSERS ISLAND RESORT

-X-

"Congratulations again, Owen, on your outstanding victory!"

Most of the twenty-two campers in the pool area cheered after Chris Maclean's congratulatory statement. Once the cheering subsided, Owen spoke up.

"Thanks, Chris! Man! This is totally AWESOME!!" The big lug then trapped the poor television host in a tight bearhug.

"…Let…go…of…me…"

Owen obeyed, and Chris fell to the ground, earning chuckles from many of the former contestants of Chris's brutal reality show, Total Drama Island.

Chris stood up and brushed himself off. "…As I was saying, congratulations on winning the one hundred grand, Owen. However, I think you can do… better…"

Everyone's ears perked up at this.

"In fact, you ALL have a chance to redeem yourselves and win a grand total of… one million dollars!"

"…Huh?" Owen managed to mumble. Everyone else was too shocked to speak.

"So how about it, buddy?" Chris egged on, an evil smirk on his face. "Care to give up that one hundred grand for a chance at a million?"

Owen, as well as everyone else, was silent. But seconds later, Gwen asked a question that was on many ex-campers' minds. "What's the catch?"

"No catch," Chris admitted. "See, while snooping around the deep woods of Wawanakwa with our cameras, Chef and I found an old, abandoned, run-down research facility underground, accessible by one of the bear caves. We sent a few of our interns down there to set up a few challenges for you. Your mission will be to complete these challenges and find a room with the briefcase filled with one million dollars. Savvy?"

"Whoa… AWESOME!!" Owen shouted gleefully. "I'm in!"

"Well, I'm not," Gwen was quick to argue, and many had agreed with her. "I'm not going on some wild goose chase for your sick, twisted pleasure."

"…Alright," Chris finally admitted defeat… or so they thought… "Then I guess you won't have any complaints as Owen wins the easiest million dollars in TV history…"

Silence fell on the ex-campers once again.

Trent broke it. "Well, what's one more day, huh? One more challenge? I'm in."

"…Okay, fine," Gwen conceded, but only because she wanted to be with Trent, and soon, everyone else agreed to the contest.

"Good, good," Chris clapped his hands together. "Alright, let's start this show! I'll lead you guys to the cave and split you into groups. From there on in, you're on your own. However," his grin widened, "only one person in your group will win the money. That means that someone in your group is going to have to do a little backstabbing. Think you can choose money over friends?"

No one dared to answer that question…

-X-

9:45 A.M.

WAWANAKWA ISLAND

BEAR CAVE ENTRANCE

-X-

"Alright, here are your groups," Chris began as they entered the cave. "Team One is Owen, DJ, Lindsay, Beth, and Tyler."

"Oh, wow!" Lindsay cheered, hugging Beth. "I'm on the same team as my new BFF!"

Tyler stood silently for a few seconds before clearing his throat, getting Lindsay's attention.

"…Oh, hi! …Who are you?"

"Team Two," Chris continued, "is Gwen, Trent, Izzy, Noah, and Cody."

"What?" Gwen groaned, realizing that Leshawna was not on her team. Cody, on the other hand, assumed her reaction was due to _him_ being on her team, and his face fell. Noah must have noticed this, as he began to pat Cody on the back, earning catcalls from Izzy.

"Team Three… is Leshawna, Harold, Katie, Sadie, Ezekiel, and Heather, which makes Team Four Eva, Justin, Courtney, Duncan, Geoff, and Bridgette. Got it?"

"Hold up!" Leshawna argued. "I'm on Queenie's team?!"

"That's right!" Heather retorted. "It's MY team, and MY rules, got it?"

"OOH!"

Chris cackled. "Oh… this will be fun…"

-X-

"Alright, listen up, maggots!" Chef spoke up. "This stairway leads to the facility. Cameras are set up all over the daggum place, and Chris and I will be monitoring your every move, every breath, every gas attack," he eyed Owen, "and the like." He stepped out of the way. "Proceed, maggots!"

The ex-campers did not hesitate to leave Chef's presence.

Once all four teams had managed to make their way down the steps, they stumbled upon a large door built into the cave wall. On it was a large octagon-like symbol, though the sides were slightly concave. The "octagon" was made up of eight almost-triangular shapes alternating red and white. The "triangles" all pointed to a vacant circular center, completing the design.

Harold studied the symbol. "...I've seen this before..."

"Ooh! Ooh! I know that decoration!" Lindsay exclaimed, pointing at the symbol. "I saw it all the time back when I started shopping for chapstick! That was on all these cosmetics from some company... Umbrella, I think..."

Harold's eyes widened behind his glasses. "...You mean..." He looked at the logo again and shuddered. "THAT'S where I know this from! This is the Umbrella Corpration's symbol!"

"The... what?" Noah inquired.

Harold began to explain. "Ten years ago, in the United States, something bad happened, involving a corporation known as Umbrella Chemical, Inc. An outbreak of some deadly virus killed nearly everyone in a city, then reanimated them into zombies. The whole city had to be nuked!"

Heather rolled her eyes. "Zombies? As if! What do you take us for?"

"IDIOTS!!"

"Hey!"

"Come on, dude," Trent spoke up. "That's a little... farfetched, don't ya think?"

"Tell that to the people who lost their lives because of this damn corporation. Count me out!" With that, Harold left his team behind as he treaded up the stairs.

"Fine!" Heather shouted back up at him. "Less people to go through for MY one million dollars!"

Leshawna rolled her eyes. "I hope the zombies love to eat prom queens..."

"Oh, please!" Heather scoffed. "Don't tell me you believe this bullshit. Now, come on! Let's get this over with."

And with that, the four teams, minus Harold, went inside...

But unfortunately for them, some of them will never leave...


	2. Chapter 2, Heather

**Special thanks to nikki-kun05 for being my Beta Reader for this chapter, and as such is my first Beta Reader ever. Though she had no issues with the chapter, she had mentioned one of the things Heather references to in this chapter: "Tomb Raider." I'll just use the excuse she came up with as a possibility: maybe her brother likes videogames?**

...

**Don't judge me.**

**Total Drama Island is owned by Fresh TV.**

**Resident Evil (Biohazard) is owned by Capcom.**

**-X-**

HEATHER

10:00 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

Damn… This is too early to do anything, let alone hunt for a briefcase…

But hey! It's a million fucking dollars! And nothing's gonna stand in my way.

Unless of course the zombies attack me…

…Pfft! Ha! Yeah, right. Zombies? Seriously? What a joke!

…

…What the hell?

We're in a poorly lit room. Four doors are on the opposite wall.

No doubt Chris wants us to split up here.

…Alright, I'll humor him.

"These doors don't have handles," I hear Noah say. "There's gotta be some way to open them."

We all look at each other in shock. This was one fucked up elaborate challenge.

"…A'ight, let's see what we can find," Leshawna says, and we all begin searching the room for something—anything—that can be used to open the doors.

I hear a clicking noise, and I turn toward the source. Leshawna had stepped on something, probably a switch of some sort.

Not long after, one of the doors begins to open. Grinning at this new realization, I quickly call the open door. I hear Leshawna groan, and another clicking sound—the sound of her stepping OFF the switch.

The door shuts.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Weird Goth Girl complains. Seriously, why the hell does she complain all the fucking time? _I_ should be the one complaining—I have to see HER ugly face everyday, yet I can never see _my_ beautiful one without looking in a mirror. Now THAT fucking sucks!

"Alright, who's staying here?" Weird Goth Girl adds, and Leshawna lets out a sigh.

"I'mma gonna stay behind, but only 'cause it keeps me away from Heather." _GRR!!_ "Plus, I'mma rootin' for you, hun," she adds, referring to Weird Goth Girl, who smiles.

God, what an ugly smile…

I hear a familiar prissy scoff to my right, and I turn to find Courtney. "Well, _I'm_ certainly not going to pass up a chance to win a million dollars. Unanimous vote: who says… Eva should stay behind?"

I laugh as all but Eva raises their hand. "What?!" the brute shouts, and my laughter is even louder.

"Sorry, Eva, but democracy rules over you," Courtney says, and my laughter stops. "You're too much of a threat to everyone else on our team."

Eva growls at the C.I.T. "…Fine. But you'll regret this…"

"Oh, I'm sure…"

DJ agrees to stay behind next because he's too afraid to enter the facility. Wimp.

Which leads us to the last team: the team of misfits and losers… and Trent.

And I really hope Weird Goth Girl stays behind.

"Well, I'm not staying behind." Damn. Well, maybe they'll leave Psycho Hose Beast behind. She's also a threat. "I think Cody should."

Whoa-ho-ho! I smirk at the sight of Cody's expression—he looks as though he's a puppy who just got his nose rubbed in a steaming pile on the carpet. …Ew! Did I just think that?

"Why not Izzy?" Scoff! Quick, much? God, Noah's such a homo. Seriously, I can tell.

"Because Izzy wants to explore the cool underground lair!" Psycho Hose Beast exclaims. "It's one of her life-long dreams!"

"…Ugh… Alright, fine! …Trent, you stay."

"What?!" Gwen and Trent both shout at once, and my smirk grows. I take back what I said before: it's only a team of misfits and losers. I have no empathy for Trent anymore.

Trent continues. "Why don't you or Cody stay?"

As much as I love this kind of drama, it's starting to sound pathetic. OMG, just choose someone to stay behind, already!

Suddenly, to my surprise, Ezekiel speaks up. "Hey, I doon't really want to participate in this challenge, eh. How aboot I stay behind for you guys?"

What?! He can't do that! He can't help them!

…

…Wait… No Ezekiel means…

…means less people from my team to take _my_ case!

Yes! Yes! Do it, Zeke! Do it!

"Aww… Zekey so sweet," Psycho Hose Beast says. "Alright, let's do that, then."

Yes! Haha! Now all I have to do is worry about Katie and Sadie backstabbing me, but I'm too smart for them.

This challenge is in the bag…

-X-

10:10 A.M.

TEAM THREE HALLWAY

-X-

"…Whoa…"

Okay, I will admit, this is very freaky. You can definitely tell no one had been here at all before yesterday, especially the janitor. Years worth of dust and cobwebs surround the walls of the facility.

And, of course, Katie and Sadie are freaking out.

"Like, Omigawd! It's so dark!"

"Like, I know! It's so scary!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Ugh… Maybe Katie and Sadie should've stayed behind instead of Leshawna and Ezekiel…

As I try my hardest to drown out the whining from the idiots, I begin to wonder why a pharmaceutical company would need a research facility in the middle of nowhere… and underground, no less. Why were they trying to hide it? What were they trying to hide?

It just doesn't make any sense…

We continue to walk down the hallway, and I notice something… off. There are large canisters with the Umbrella logo on the side—canisters that definitely wouldn't have been used to hold beauty products. Try dangerous chemicals, like those you learn about in Chemistry Class.

I am beginning to think that maybe… just maybe… there was more to Umbrella than just cosmetics and profits.

But I still doubt the zombie story Harold told us really happened.

I would never admit it to Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber here, or anyone else for that matter, but I actually did hear about that story Harold told us. At first, I believed it, but then I figured that it was just some stupid conspiracy made up to shut the corporation down (especially since it took five years for them to do so). Plus, come on! _Zombies?_ Who the fuck is _that_ gullible?

Another thought has just entered my mind. I wonder what happened to the interns. Their network-owned jeeps were still parked outside of the bear cave…

At the end of the hallway, we find a locked door. Great. Now what?

Well, I guess we have to find a freaking key, huh?

Nice challenge, Chris. Search for crap and use it to open doors? What is this? Tomb Raider?

We search the area, ultimately finding the key near the canisters. Great… I hope we don't have to do much more of this bullcrap.

I walk up to the door and put the key into the keyhole. Slowly, I open the door…

…What the fu—

_**UUUUUUUURRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo**_

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Katie, Sadie, and I sprint toward the entrance. I glance back. What the fuck was that—

Oh my God!

Harold was right! He was right!

_**UUUUUUUURRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo**_

Oh God! I gotta get out of here!

I trip.

Shit! Shit!

Katie and Sadie are far ahead of me now, and I try to get back up to my feet. I feel the zombie right behind me.

He grabs me.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I run again, just in time to get away from his bite.

The entrance is in front of me. I'm almost there!

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! CLOSE THE DOOR!! CLOSE THE DOOR!!"

WHAT?! WAIT FOR ME!!!

Click.

The door shuts.

"NOOOO!!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!" I pound on the door. "LET ME OUT!!!! HEEEEELLLLLLLP!!!!"

Chomp.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh………

_**YOU ARE DEAD**_


	3. Chapter 3, Leshawna

LESHAWNA

10:03 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

"Alright, who's staying here?"

I sigh, knowing what I'm about to give up. "I'mma gonna stay behind, but only 'cause it keeps me away from Heather." I hear her growl, but I pay no heed, as I continue to address my best girlfriend, Gwen. "Plus, I'mma rootin' for you, hun." She smiles at me, and I smile back. I really do mean that, too. I hope she wins this stupid contest. She's gone through too much shit as it is.

I just hope her team doesn't drive her over the edge.

Trent ain't gonna be a problem. He'll take care of her, I'm sho', and he'll try to keep her level-headed. Izzy and Noah, on the other hand, I'm afraid are gonna get on her nerves. And Cody? Well, there was a toss-up there. It was one or the other for him.

Courtney starts talking, but I don't pay much attention. Really, I just want to get this dang contest over with so I can GO HOME!

I notice that Eva's the one on her team staying behind. I'm surprised. Since when did Eva listen to anybody else?

DJ chose to stay behind next. That didn't surprise me at all.

I turn back to Gwen's group, which still hasn't made their decision. "Well, I'm not staying behind," she says right away, and I have to keep myself from shouting praises—I do that way too much as it is. "I think Cody should."

…Okay, that didn't exactly warm my conkles. I glance at Cody. Oh, man… Poor guy…

Noah stands up for him right away by stating that Izzy should stay behind, but Izzy also declines. Boy, that's gonna be a tough decision for them, huh…

The group continues to argue before Ezekiel steps in. Now, since I ain't gon' win no million dollars today, I really don' give a crap if someone in my group ends up winning (unless it's Heather). In fact, the only thing keeping my foot on this switch is the fact that soon I'll be going home, away from this hellhole forever.

But I still appreciate what Ezekiel just did. He ain't such a bad guy after all. Just misunderstood.

The teams finally enter their hallways once all of those left behind found their switches. I am already feeling the onslaught of boredom attacking me. I'm going to be standing here for… how long now? As long as it takes for them to come back?

Damn…

…

"So… how you guys holdin' up?" I ask, trying to start idle conversation to keep my mind off of this boredom.

"We ain't doing anything," Eva points out.

"Exactly," I explain. "This is boring the hell out of me."

"At least you volunteered," Eva reminds me. Darn… She's right…

Minute after minute, time feels like it's getting even slower. I'm sure the contest is going to last at least a few hours, but I already feel like going home. Can I just sit on these things for God's sake?

…

…Come to think of it, I don't see why not.

I sit down on the switch, and rest my head on my palm, my elbow resting on my leg. God, I hope something interesting happens soon…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

What the hell?!

Soon, I see Katie and Sadie running toward me. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! CLOSE THE DOOR!!! CLOSE THE DOOR!!!"

Without thinking, I stand up and get away from the switch. The door shuts, and Katie and Sadie sigh with relief.

I look at the two in shock. "What the hell happ—?"

"NOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"

My jaw drops in horror. "Heather!" I'm about to step on the switch, but stop when I hear another blood-curdling scream.

Then… silence…

Eerie fucking silence…

I turn to the others, who share the same expression I believe I have. What the hell just happened…?

"D-d-don't… open… that door…" Katie says, shuddering.

"Get… help…" Sadie adds, holding onto Katie for dear life.

"W-What happened?" I find myself asking. I don't want to believe that Harold's story is true, but…

"Harold… He… He was right…" Katie answers, and a hand finds its way toward my mouth. Oh, God… And Gwen and Bridgette and all my buds are in there…

I gotta tell Chris!

"I'll be right back," I tell everyone in the room. Zeke, Eva, DJ, you keep watch. Anybody comes runnin' out… make sure they're all there, okay?"

Eva nods, but Zeke and DJ are too freaked out to show any response. I still trust they'll do the right thing, though. And they aren't the types to abandon anyone, I don' think.

But one thing's for damn sure… I gotta get help…

-X-

10:25 A.M.

CHRIS AND CHEF'S PRODUCTION TENT

-X-

"Chris!" I shout, running into the tent. I stop to take a few breaths as he turns to me with a horrified look on his face. "Please tell me you know what's goin' on, and you're gon' do something about this!"

"Yeah, we know," he says in a deadpan tone. "Chef and Harold went to get some firearms."

My eyes widen. "Harold was here?"

Chris nods. "Yeah. He warned us about the situation, but Chef and I didn't believe him," he pauses as he turns back to the monitors, "…until now."

I want to get mad at the host—I really do—but I didn't believe the story either until I heard Heather's screams on the other side of that door. I couldn't be mad at him for not believing this was going to happen.

Chris turns back to me with a scared look on his face, and that alone scares me—Chris scared? As if I don't already know how bad this is! "Go back to the others and tell them we're coming, 'kay Leshawna?"

"Okay." I run out of the tent, and back to the cave.

-X-

10:42 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

Huff… Huff… Man, Shawnie's gotta lay off them chocodiles…

I look around the room. The others ain't back yet…

…Oh, God… What if…?

…No. That can't happen! I won't let it!

…

I'm going in…

I don't care what happens to me.

I'm a whole lotta woman, I can handle some moanin', groanin' zombie freaks!

"Zeke, keep this door open. Don' close it unless you see some messed up monster comin' at you, okay?"

No answer.

"OKAY?!"

"Y-Yes! Yes, um… What's yoor name again?"

I don't answer. Instead, I run through the door, unarmed and vulnerable.

God help me.

**Somewhere in the facility, someone is typing on a typewriter…**


	4. Chapter 4, Cody

**Special thanks to nikki-kun05 for once again being my Beta Reader and for the very positive feedback. Thank you very much.**

**Also, thank you those of you who took the time to review and share your thoughts on the story, as well as those of you who are taking the time to read this.**

**-X-**

CODY

10:03 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

I know I should be happy.

I mean, come on! I'm on _Gwen's_ team! And I've already told myself that no matter what happens, _she's _winning the money if we find it. I'm going to make sure of that.

But… I know she doesn't want me on her team.

I could tell by her reaction the second my name was called.

Thankfully, Noah was there to cheer me up. Though he isn't very nice to others, he's still nice to me, and I'm thankful for that. The guy's helped me time and time again whenever I felt like crap about… well… how I treated Gwen on the island.

God, I was so stupid…

But that's going to change! _I'm_ going to change! Even if she doesn't see me in the same light, I'm going to change so I never get hurt like that again on my own account.

That's right. I don't blame Gwen for rejecting me—she had every right to.

I blame myself.

But like I said, Noah helped me through those times, and he still continues to do so, just like he did this morning. And I'm very thankful for that.

Anyway, enough about my troubles—let's get back to real time. The teams are now choosing who to stay behind. Apparently, one person has to give up their million dollar dream to open the door for the others in their team.

Nice move, Chris. Who'd have thought the backstabbing would start so soon?

The three other teams had already chosen their poor sap. Now it's my team's turn.

I wonder how we're going to choose.

Hell, I wonder WHO we're going to choose…

"I think Cody should."

…Ow… That hurt…

That really fucking hurt…

"Why not Izzy?" Noah quickly asks, and I begin to wonder if it was on my behalf.

"Because Izzy wants to explore the cool underground lair! It's one of her life-long dreams!"

"…Ugh… Alright, fine! …Trent, you stay."

For some reason, I have no problem with that.

"What?!" But they do.

Man, this isn't going to be easy, is it?

You know what? Fuck it. If they want me to stay behind, fine! It's not like I wanted the million dollars anyway. I already decided to help Gwen win it…

But before I can say anything, Ezekiel walks over to us. "Hey, I doon't really want to participate in this challenge, eh. How aboot I stay behind for you guys?"

"…Wow, you'd do that?" I ask, surprised at his generosity, and he nods.

"Aww… Zekey so sweet," Izzy purrs. "Alright, let's do that then."

"Thanks, man," I say, offering him a high five, but he misinterprets it for a wave and waves at me. Heh heh… Maybe when this is over I can teach him a thing or two about social life… not that I'm the best tutor in that subject, but I'm sure he'll appreciate the gesture.

"Alright, ready?" Trent asks the group once Ezekiel found the switch, and we all nod. "Great. Let's go."

And we enter the now open doorway in front of us…

-X-

10:10 A.M.

TEAM TWO HALLWAY

-X-

Izzy and I seem to be the only ones interested in the surrounding area, as the others continue to stare straight forward with only the million dollars on their minds. Really, this place is absolutely phenomenal! A building built underground, looking like a normal building on the inside. The hallway reminds me of a school's hallway, only much less organized: the overhead lights are flickering, the lockers are almost completely covered with rust, and the fire extinguishers are lying haphazardly on the floor instead of hanging on the wall where they should be.

I stop in front of two large paintings that triggered my curiosity. The men in the paintings look as though they are two different men—one was a young man with long, flowing black hair and some sort of robe (or maybe a dress… I couldn't tell), the other was an old man with short gray hair and a suit—but when I read the plaque in between the two paintings I realize they are actually the same guy.

_DR. JAMES MARCUS_

_FIRST DIRECTOR OF UMBRELLA_

_DISCIPLINE, OBEDIENCE, UNITY_

I'm not sure what the last three words have to do with the plaque, but I don't really want to find out, either…

"Cody, hurry up!" I hear Gwen shout. "If I lose to Heather because of you…"

"Coming! Coming!" She doesn't have to finish that sentence. I already have a good idea on what would happen to me… And it's not pretty…

We finally reach a set of double doors. As it is surprisingly the only door in the hallway, we decide to enter through it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We're in a small room. Nothing major here, other than all these random papers and books piled everywhere. Another door is seen at the other end of the room.

Trent goes over to open it, but it's locked. "Great… Now what?"

"Well, Chris _probably_ wouldn't just leave us hanging like this," Noah says matter-of-factly. "There's probably a key somewhere in this room."

My eyes widen. "You mean we have to look through all this crap?"

"I'm on it!" Izzy shouts and she almost literally dives through the piles of papers and God knows what else is littering the floor. Trent and I try to help her look for the key, but she insists on searching for it herself.

It takes about ten minutes, but Izzy emerges victorious. "Ha-HA! Here is our prize!"

"I'd prefer the million dollars," Gwen says with her amazing wit, as usual, and I can't help but chuckle.

Izzy gives Trent the key and Trent unlocks the door. "Alright, we're good to go." We enter through it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We are greeted by a body on the floor.

"Ugh!"

"Gross!"

"Cool!" This last quote is from Izzy.

"Damn interns sleeping on the job," Noah remarks.

"…I don't think he's sleeping," Gwen says in a scared tone. Oh, God… I want to comfort her… but I can't. She wouldn't let me, and neither will Trent. But Trent gets to comfort her, and he does so.

Trent… You're one lucky son of a gun, you know that? I hope you do.

"Come on," Trent says. "I don't know what happened to this guy, but we need to kee—"

**Uuuuuuuooooooooooooouuuuuuu…**

…What was that?!

I look down again at the body on the floor, and gasp.

Did… Did that thing just… move?!

"Um, guys?" I gulp, pointing down at the once dead, now moving body.

Everyone looks down…

…and screams.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The body slowly sits up, and we run to the door on the other side of the room, unaware of the fact that it could actually be locked.

"OPEN THE DOOR!! OPEN THE DOOR!!"

Trent quickly opens the door. Thankfully, it's already unlocked.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

"What the fuck was that thing?!" Gwen shouts amidst the group's long, heavy breaths, and everyone else is too afraid to answer… except Izzy.

"I think that was a zombie."

"NO SHIT, EINSTEIN!!"

"So… Harold was right all along?" Trent asks, once again pointing out the obvious.

"Dammit! We should've run the other way!" Noah groans, his hands now gripping his head. "Now we're stuck in this damn building with THAT thing!"

…Damn, that _would've_ been a lot smarter, huh?

Gwen sighs. "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep going…"

What?! "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I try to reason with her. "Don't tell me you still want to win the money, Gwen! We need to find another way out of this place!"

"Gee, you think?" she says back. "That's my plan, genius! I'm looking for the freaking exit here!"

"…Oh…" I feel like crap again. "…Sorry, Gwen… It's just… What… What if we don't make it out of here?"

"Cody, don't talk like that."

"But…"

"Cody," she interrupts in a softer tone, and I strangely find myself calming down a little, "from what I had seen over those first few weeks on Total Drama Island, you are one of the most optimistic people I've ever met, and one of the most ambitious. Please, for the sake of all the realists and one psycho here, keep with that mentality, okay? 'Cause if you don't think we'll make it out of here, neither of us will think it." She pats my shoulder, which causes me to blush slightly. I nod to show her I understand and that I'll try to stay optimistic, and she smiles at me. "Good. Now come on. Let's find another way out of this place before we run into any more of those things."

I smile back. "Okay. So, where do we go from here?"

She looks around, and so do I. As I search the area, my eyes happen to fall on Trent for a moment, who seems to be giving me a wary look for some reason. But I'm sure I'm just imagining it.

The area we're in is rather large (well, more long than large, I guess…), and there weren't many other doors, but the ones we tried were all locked.

Until…

"Hey!" I shout to my team. "This door's open!"

The group gathers around as I open the door, hoping a zombie or some other creature isn't on the other end of it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

There is no one inside.

Phew! Good…

The room is a small office. Papers litter the desk. A lone typewriter sits nearby, with some ink ribbon next to it. A magazine lay on the chair. Other than these things, there isn't anything special about this room.

Noah looks over at the magazine and checks the date. "…This is recent… Very recent… It must be one of the interns' magazines." He skims through the magazine… and gasps.

"What? What is it?" I ask, worried.

"…Oh my God…"

"What?! What?!"

"…OH MY GOD!!!"

"WHAT?!"

"OH MY GOD, IT'S THE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!"

I panic. Any trace of my good mood from Gwen's talk was now gone.

"IT'S HORRIBLE!!!! STEPHANIE MEYER IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE BEST WRITERS OF ALL TIME BY THIS IGNORANT MAGAZINE JOURNALIST!!! THE HORROR!!! THE HORROR!!!"

"…You're fucking kidding me, right?"

"We're gonna die down here… This is an omen… The zombies are going to kill us…"

"Noah! Calm down!"

"I CAN'T CALM DOWN!! GOD!! I… I… I need to vent…"

"Just… just relax, Noah. It'll be okay…" I really want to calm him down. He's always been there when I've had problems; now I have to be there for him.

"No… no, man… I need to vent. Cody, do you have your laptop with you?"

"No."

"Damn…" He groans. "I need to type. That's how I usually vent…"

I glance toward the typewriter. "Why not use that?"

Noah looks at the typewriter, and then looks at me. "_Me_, use _that _primitive machine? Pfft! As if…"

"Well, you need to vent, right?"

"Pfft! Whatever…" He looks at the typewriter again. "…Well, it's not like I'm saving whatever I type anyway. I'm just doing it to relieve the stress…"

"That's the spirit," I jokingly cheer.

"…Alright, I'm not going to lie… This will take a while, so take a good… half hour breather, okay guys?" he tells us, and we agree to it. "Good, because I've just had some pretty traumatizing shit happen to me right now…"

"We should be safe here for a while anyway," Trent says, and I concur with him. Zombies aren't that smart. They don't even know how to open doors.

At least that's what I've read anyway.

…And I hope to God that that's right…

**With that, Noah uses the ink ribbon and begins to type…**


	5. Chapter 5, Tyler

**This chapter is very short, and I apologize for that. I assure you that the next chapter will be much longer.**

**-X-**

TYLER

10:03 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

"…I ain't goin' in there."

I turn to the rest of my group, then back to DJ. "…That was easy."

"A'ight, now where's that switch?" DJ begins to search the area for any dips or cracks in the floor. Finally, he finds one, and a door opens. Owen quickly calls it, and soon after we enter the doorway.

-X-

10:06 A.M.

TEAM ONE HALLWAY

-X-

"Wow… It'sh sho shcary in here…"

"EEK! Hold me!"

I frown. She _was_ in love with _me_, wasn't she? …Wasn't she? Shouldn't I be the one to hold her?

But I'll admit… I have to agree. This place is freaky! It's almost as freaky as chickens, dude…

I also begin to realize something about our group. I don't think Chris plans for us to win. All of the cowards and easily sidetracked seem to be in the same group.

_Our_ group.

Damn…

At the end of the hallway, we find a staircase leading down. I'm not sure we should take it, but there's no other door around here.

"Well, here goes nothing," I hear Owen say as he walks down the steps first. I follow him, Lindsay and Beth behind me. Along the way, I notice pictures on the wall. There are three, each depicting a man. According to the small plaques beneath each one, the men are Dr. James Marcus, Sir Edward Ashford, and Lord Ozwell E. Spencer… whoever the hell they are…

We reach the bottom of the stairway, and go through the only door.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We're in a large room. Not large in height, mind you, but in space.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this room goes under all three of the other hallways.

Over on the wall to our left, I spy that familiar symbol—the symbol on that entrance door. The almost stop sign looking shape of red and white crosses.

I have to hand it to whoever designed that. They had excellent tastes in colors.

The room itself looks like some sort of gymnasium—once again, excellent tastes here, bro. But something confuses me about this… Why would a cosmetics provider have a gymnasium in a hidden facility? Especially one like this—there aren't actually any basketball hoops or soccer nets or anything, but there are "obstacle courses" here, like you'd find in American Football camps…

…or boot camps…

We find a set of double doors on the right side, and we go through it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

As I assumed before we entered, this is the locker room.

But there's something eerie about it… and not just the fact that pieces of the large mirror above the sinks are shattered… or the fact that I can hear running water nearby.

No, there's something ominous about this room…

**Uuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooo…**

…What the hell was…?

"GREAT BARRIER REEF!!!" Owen shouts, and we look at where he's gesturing to.

Three figures slowly emerge from the shower stall. One is male, and two are female…

…Or at least they were…

"OH MY GOD!!!"

"EEK!! ZOMBIES(H)!!!" Beth and Lindsay scream in unison.

"RUN!!" I shout, and we head toward the doors.

Rattle, rattle.

Rattle, rattle.

"THEY WON'T OPEN!!"

"You mean… the lock's jammed?!" Oh my…

We're dead…

We're so freaking dead…

I could have sworn my death would end up being at the hands—er—wings of chickens, but I guess I was wrong…

But… if these are my last moments…

"Lindsay?"

She looks at me, fear glazed over her eyes.

Her beautiful eyes…

Yes, I'm looking at her eyes, dammit. It's hard, but I need to do this.

"I… I love you."

She smiles, though the fear is still there. "Oh… I love you too, What's-Your-Name…"

Despite it all, I smile back, and I hold her close as the three zombies get closer. There's no way out of this…

But… at least I can die knowing she still loves me, even if she doesn't remember my name.

After all… _I_ won't remember it in a few seconds…

Chomp.

_**YOU ARE DEAD**_

**-X-**

**Alright, let me get it out of the way for you guys.**

**"What were those interns doing in the shower anyway, Nick? What the hell is wrong with you? Think of the children! GOSH!"**

**Hey, this is an M-rated fic filled with character death. Someone was bound to get naughty at some point.**


	6. Chapter 6, Gwen

**Alright, this chapter's going to be very, very, VERY similar to Cody's chapter, but hopefully it won't feel redundant or repetetive.**

**...Or at least TOO repetetive.**

**-X-**

GWEN

10:04 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

I look over my group, as I think about who would probably be the best person to leave behind.

Trent's already a big fat "No." We're a couple; we need to do everything together. It'd be stupid to ask him to stay behind.

Noah? …Well, he may annoy the snot out of me, but he's smart. He'd be a big help in this search. And hey… if he _does_ end up with the million dollars, well… at least he isn't Heather.

Izzy? …Well, I doubt she'd stay behind anyway.

But… that leaves…

I groan inwardly. Oh, God… This is bad. Really. Don't think I'm blind. I saw how Cody reacted to my reaction earlier when Chris split us up into teams. It was really because of Leshawna. I wanted her on my team so bad…

But he doesn't know that…

And now… I have to tell him he has to stay behind?

Dammit… I'm sure he's going to take this the wrong way too…

The other teams have already chosen who's going to stay behind for them, so here goes nothing…

"Well, I'm not staying behind," I say, and I pause for a few seconds, getting ready for the possible emotional meltdown of the poor soul smiling at me… that small, soft, gap-tooth smile…

Damn it…

"I think Cody should."

I look at him, and right away I can feel guilt build up in me. His smile is long gone, and I can feel the temperature in the room drop like dead weight.

"Why not Izzy?" Noah suddenly speaks up. Damn it, Noah! You're just making it harder…

Izzy explains why she wants to go in the facility, and Noah concedes. "Alright, fine! …Trent, you stay."

"What?!" Okay, that's not happening!

You know what? I change my mind. Cody's pretty smart, right? He can come along, and _Noah_ can fucking stay behi—

"Hey, I doon't really want to participate in this challenge, eh." Ezekiel? What the—? "How aboot I stay behind for you guys?"

…Whoa. I did not see that coming.

"…Wow, you'd do that?" Cody asks, and I can just feel the happy start radiating from him. Sudden overly-happy mood swings may not really be my scene, but I can't help but smile at Cody's sudden surge of happiness. It feels more like him that way. He's… sorta like Geoff and Owen in that light—he only seems like himself when he's happy.

And I admit… I'm a little jealous.

I mean, let's face it. If _I_ was happy all the time, everyone would be concerned for my health. See, everyone expects me to be sad or angry. And it's sort of the opposite for Cody—if he's sad or angry, something feels off, like the universe is no longer in balance.

My point is, there is enough of _me _in the world. I don't want Cody to become one too.

Especially if it's because of me…

-X-

10:10 A.M.

TEAM TWO HALLWAY

-X-

"Alright, someone really needs to hire a janitor," is the first thing I say since we started our trek down this hall.

Trent chuckles, and I blush. "Chris, Chris, Chris… Stingy as always, am I right?"

"Yyyyyep. So… how long do you suppose this challenge is going to take?"

"Oh, for the love of all things sane… SHUT UP!!"

I glare at the bookworm, who was glaring back at the two of us. But before any fists start flying, I smirk at him. "You're just jealous that _you_ don't have a boyfriend like I do, Noah."

"Oh, fuck you."

I chuckle. "I didn't think I was your type."

Izzy joins in. "Ooooooooooh! Are we talking about Noah's love life?"

"SHUT UP!!"

"Guys, cool it," Trent finally speaks up. "So what if he likes guys? Big deal. It's not cool to pick on him for it."

"We're not picking on him for _that_," I explain. "We're picking on him 'cause he denies it, even after Izzy snagged his 'Topless Hunks' calendar."

"THOSE CALENDARS HAVE VERY WELL DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE HOLIDAYS!!"

"Oh, right," Izzy jokingly scoffs. "That's like Cody reading a Playboy magazine only for the exciting news articles… though I can imagine _you_ reading a Playboy magazine only for the articles."

"Hey, sometimes they have good articles," Noah defends himself. "There's a Jhonen Vasquez interview on the Suicide Girls website that's very informative and entertaining."

I stop in my tracks, causing everyone to stop. "What?" Noah asks, obviously assuming he said something that caused our sudden halt. But no, he's not the reason.

"Cody, hurry up!" I call, spotting him in front of two large paintings. When he doesn't start moving right away, I lower my voice a little. "If I lose to Heather because of you…"

"Coming! Coming!" He quickly rushes over, and I smirk a little. He knows me a little too well, I think…

…I'm not sure if that's a bad thing, but I won't hold it against him.

We reach a dual set of doors, and we enter through it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

The room is rather small, and very messy. Papers and books litter the floor.

Trent goes over to the other door and tries to open it, but the door is locked.

Izzy offers to look for the key. Trent and Cody try to help, but Izzy tells them that she can do it herself.

"Well, this could take a while…" Noah groans, and I sigh. How the hell can Trent and Cody stand him?

…

…Maybe the same way they can stand me?

...Damn. Now that I think of it, Noah and I really aren't that different.

I guess that makes sense then. Ever since I found out about Cody's crush on me and the fact that Trent liked me back… I often wondered what was so fucking special about me. Why _me_? Why do they like _me_? Guys like them… they're supposed to like Heather or Lindsay, not the brooding Goth girl.

How can I ask why Trent and Cody can stand Noah if I haven't been able to answer why they can stand _me_ yet? Why they like me. Why _do_ they like me?

Maybe… Maybe I should lighten up on Noah…

Ultimately, Izzy finds the key. "Ha-HA! Here is our prize!"

"I'd prefer the million dollars," I joke, and Cody chuckles.

"Alright, we're good to go," Trent says, and he unlocks the door.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

HOLY SHIT!!

There's a fricking body on the fricking floor!

"Damn interns sleeping on the job," Noah remarks, but I beg to differ.

"…I don't think he's sleeping."

Someone must sense my fear, because I feel two arms wrap around me from behind. I look to see who it is.

Trent.

I sigh with relief. Though it wouldn't have really mattered who was comforting me right now, Trent is the only one I wouldn't feel awkward with.

I close my eyes, calming down in his warm embrace. He speaks. "Come on. I don't know what happened to this guy, but we need to kee—"

**Uuuuuuuooooooooooooooouuuuuuuu…**

…What the hell was that?!

"Um, guys?" Cody points to the floor, his whole body shaking.

I look down…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The once dead body now sits up. Without thinking, we head straight for the other door in the room.

"OPEN THE DOOR!!! OPEN THE DOOR!!!" Cody shouts, and Trent thankfully does so.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

A few heavy breaths later, I find myself shouting. "What the fuck was that thing?!"

Despite the question obviously being rhetorical, Izzy answers it. "I think it was a zombie."

"NO SHIT, EINSTEIN!!"

"So… Harold was right all along?" Trent, you have no idea how much I love your excellent powers of observation…

"Dammit! We should've run the other way!" Noah's hands grab at his head. "Now we're stuck in this damn building with THAT thing!"

…Damn. He's right. It's weird how fear fogs logic like that. "Well, I guess we'll just have to keep going…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Cody steps in front of me. "Don't tell me you still want to win the money, Gwen! We need to find another way out of this place!"

"Gee, you think?" Okay, I admit that sounds… harsh, but I'm not stupid, you know! "That's my plan, genius! I'm looking for the freaking exit here!"

"…Oh…" I notice him slouch, and I frown. Why does he have to be so easily hurt? I hate doing this to him… "…Sorry, Gwen… It's just… What… What if we don't make it out of here?"

I glare at him. "Cody, don't talk like that."

"But…"

"Cody," I interrupt softly. I don't want to hurt him anymore. I need to get him to be happy for us. We need a hopeful person. We need someone to tell us we can get through this. And if that person isn't Cody… then who the hell is it?

I try to explain this to him. Optimism is going to be the glue that holds us together. And if our optimist isn't doing his job, we're as good as dead.

When I'm done with my explanation, I pat him on the shoulder. He blushes and nods, the latter telling me that he understands what I'm saying to him. I smile. "Good. Now come on. Let's find another way out of this place before we run into any more of those things."

He smiles back at me. "Okay. So, where do we go from here?"

I look around, and soon everyone else begins to look. Most of the doors in this room (which is rather like a large hallway) are locked, but Cody manages to find an unlocked door, and we enter it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

It's a small office, and luckily no zombies have this room occupied.

Noah quickly spots a magazine on the chair. He checks the date. "…This is recent… Very recent… It must be one of the interns' magazines." He skims through the magazines.

He starts panicking.

"What? What is it?" Cody asks, and I begin to worry about the cynical bookworm.

"…Oh my God…"

"What?! What?!"

"…OH MY GOD!!!" Noah's panicking becomes louder and more violent. It's scaring me. What the hell did Noah see that caused him to flip out like that?

When he begins to shout about the apocalypse, I almost start to lose it.

Then he mentions Stephanie Meyer.

…You fucking asshole… getting me worried sick…

And to think I almost sympathized with your ass earlier!

Cody's still trying to calm him down. Damn, the kid's got to have more patience than a fucking doctor. **(Patients)**

No wonder he kept hitting on me long after I made it clear I wasn't interested.

Noah says he needs to vent, and Cody suggests he uses the typewriter. Weird, I didn't even notice there was a typewriter in the room.

After warning us that his venting may last a while, I sit down on the floor. This is going to be a long fucking day…

…and hopefully one I'll live to tell my grandchildren…

**And with that, the clicking of Noah's fingers on the typewriter begins…**


	7. Chapter 7, Duncan

DUNCAN

10:10 A.M.

TEAM FOUR HALLWAY

-X-

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Princess? I mean… Eva would definitely be more helpful than the lovebirds over here." I point to Geoff and Bridgette, who are _passionately_ sucking face.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing," she starts. And I really mean _starts_. "I used to be a C.I.T., remember?"

"Yes, Princess, we know."

"And quit calling me 'Princess'!"

"Then quit calling yourself a 'C.I.T.'!"

"MAKE ME!!"

Alright, NOW I'm frustrated. Damn, she's so annoying!

…

And boy, does it turn me on.

"I have to agree with Courtney on this one. Eva's anger issues could result in scratching my pretty eyes out, and I don't want that."

I stop and turn to the "handsome hunk" walking beside me. My jaw drops. "Holy crap! You can talk?!"

"…Uh, yeah. Duh."

I blink a few times. This is very surreal.

The hallway makes a sharp left, which confuses me. Where the hell does Team One go, then? We'd be cutting in front of them if their hallway was straight on like ours was.

We come across two doors—one in front of us and one to the right—and my thoughts are interrupted by (take a guess……………too late) Courtney. "Let's see… Going straight would mean we'd probably end up in another team's hallway… which is good, considering that way we can follow them secretly and take advantage of them by having them solve all the puzzles themselves, whereas if we go right, we'll have to figure out these puzzles on our own. Weighing our choices down, I say we go straight."

I shake my head, and Courtney frowns at me. "What? Mr. Tough Guy has a better reason to go right?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," I say. "Doors straight ahead of you are always the obvious choices—too obvious, if you ask me. Plus, what if one of the other teams is supposed to come from that way?"

"Then we'll end up back at the start and we'll start over," Courtney answers, but I still stick with my idea. I open the door on the right, despite her protesting. "What do you think you're doing?"

"If this is the part where we split up, then so be it," I say, "…Unless, of course, you reconsider."

She scoffs. "…Alright, fine! Let's do what _you_ feel like doing! Don't listen to the Counselor in Training!"

"I've already been doing a good job at it."

She growls, and I laugh. Man, am I glad I'm on her team. This is so much fun!

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We're in an empty room, one that surprisingly is even filthier than the hallway.

"Eww!" Courtney cringes. "This smells worse than _you_!"

"Me nothing, this smells worse than _Owen_," I reply.

"No, _nothing_ smells worse than Owen. You know that."

"Hey, Duncan?"

…Oh, right. Justin speaks now.

"Where are the Siamese twins connected at the mouth?"

…Huh. I can't believe I didn't notice the sloppy and slurpy sounds disappear. "Maybe they're still in the hallway?"

"Oh, who cares?" Courtney scoffs. "They were only holding us back."

"Oh, screw it, I'll be right back." I head back through the door we came in.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Huh… That's weird… Where the hell are they?

…Oh, I get it. They went through the other door… probably to make out in private or something…

Well, let's have a look-see, shall we?

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

OH MY GOD!!

Geoff! Bridgette!

What the _fuck_ happened to you two?!

The door to the left is open. I hear screams, and I freeze up.

"NOOOOO!! NOOOOOOOOOO!!"

H-Heather?!

I hear a long, blood-curdling scream, and I cautiously look through the open door…

I throw up.

-X-

10:20 A.M.

UNDETERMINED TEAM FOUR LOCATION

-X-

"Duncan!" Courtney shouts as I slowly reenter the room. "Where the hell did you run off to?" I'm too shaken up to respond right away. "DUNCAN!!" That woke me up.

"Guys, w-we need to get the fuck out of here!" I say, but Courtney glares at me.

"No! I am NOT going to give up my million dollar dream because YOU say so! Besides, you're probably just trying to trick me so YOU can get MY million dollars!"

"I am serious! Geoff, Bridgette, and Heather are fucking _dead_! Harold was right all along!"

"Oh, so _now_ you're siding with that thieving bastard, huh?" God, this woman is insufferable! And under any other circumstances I'd probably enjoy it, but right now we need to get the hell out of—

…Wait…

Gwen, Trent, Owen… they're all still in this hellhole… with _those_ things…

…Ah, who am I shitting? Gwen's the only one I'm truly concerned about.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't just abandon those guys or anything, but if I had to choose…

"Duncan!" Courtney has the door to the next room open and Justin has already gone through. "Hurry up! Let them make out on their own. If they don't want to win a million dollars, that's only better for me! …I mean us."

"Courtney…" I growl, but I stop there. She's too stubborn—she won't listen to anything I say, and she certainly won't listen to anything _Harold_ originally said.

Until, of course, we run into one of those things.

…

But I hope we don't…

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

There's nothing much to say about this room, other than the pool table in the middle of it.

Courtney goes over to the next door. It's locked.

Great.

This must be one of the "challenges" Chris told us about.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm still going along with this instead of going back to the entrance and finding Gwen and the others before someone or something else finds them. But you have to keep in mind I'm not just going to abandon Courtney, either. And there's no way in hell she's going to agree to come back with me to look for the others. She'll probably think it's grounds for disqualification or some such shit.

And besides, if… what was Heather's team again? The third team, right? If Team Three was going to end up coming through our hallway anyway, then I bet we'll meet up with Gwen's team at some point.

Provided, of course, they'll still be alive when we meet up with them…

Grr! Quit thinking like that, Duncan! Gwen's tough! She even took down a fucking psycho killer with a chainsaw and a hook! I'm sure she can handle a few… undead monsters.

…

Still, it wouldn't hurt if we found her…

…or the others, of course…

"There's no keyhole!" Courtney's shouting breaks me of my thoughts. "How do we unlock a door without a keyhole?"

"Well, it wouldn't matter if you don't have the key, genius," I retort.

"Oh, screw you!"

"I would let you if we weren't in the middle of a fucking horror film." Hey, I've gotta keep my spirits up somehow.

I look around the room, and I notice a plaque on the wall. I walk over to read it.

_BILLIARD BUST_

_Eight Ball in Corner Pocket_

…That helps.

…Wait a minute…

I look around the room… and spot it.

In one corner is some sort of box jutting out of the wall. There is a circular hole in the front side of the box.

I look over at the pool table, taking special note of the eight ball. I pick it up and examine it.

One side of the Eight Ball has NOT an "8", but the Umbrella symbol.

I chuckle, confusing the hell out of Justin and Courtney, I can imagine. "Tricky bastards. Very elaborate, I'll give them that." I take the Eight Ball over to the box and insert it "Umbrella-side" inward.

I hear a sound… an "unlatching" sound.

The door's now unlocked.

"Too easy," I say with a smirk before getting serious again. "Now, let's find the others."

"Now why on Earth would we do that?" Courtney asks, giving me a stern look.

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe it's because, oh… let's see… _I don't want to die_!"

"Oh, pfft! You're just trying to scare me, Duncan, and it's _not_ working."

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you, Princess."

"I'm… gonna stay out of this," Justin mumbles as Courtney opens the door.

"What? You just started talking, dude. Don't shut up now."

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

This room looks like some sort of commons, which would explain the billiards room next to it. A couch and a large television are in the room.

Courtney goes over to the door on the other side of the room. It's locked. "Great! Well, smart guy? What's your plan this time?"

Hmm… This one's tricky. "Is there a keyhole in that door, babe?"

She checks. "…Yes. And don't call me babe!"

I smirk. Good, so my theory _may_ actually be correct. "Alright, if there's anything I know about couch potatoes, it's this." I begin to search between the couch cushions. Sure enough, at one point I find a key. "Things always slip between the cushions, my dear."

"Don't call me that either!" she shouts, taking the key from me. She unlocks the door, and we go through it.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

We're in the middle of another hallway. Unlike the one we had been in before, there were several doors to choose.

"Now where do we go from here?" Justin inquires, and Courtney quickly answers before I get the chance to.

"Let's split up. Justin, you take the doors on the left. Duncan, you check the doors on the right. I'll check the one in front of us. Got it?"

"Aye aye, Princess," I salute, and with a scoff from Courtney we are off.

I check the door kitty-corner to the door we came out of first. Locked. Okay, now let's check the one across from it.

But as I get closer to it, my eyes widen as I hear screams on the other side of the door.

"OH MY GOD!!!"

I could practically feel my face get paler.

"OH MY GOD, IT'S THE SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!"

"Oh, shit!" I run. I admit, not the bravest act I had ever done, but damn it if that didn't scare the shit out of me!

"And where are YOU going?!" Courtney shouts at me as I'm about to head back the way we came in.

"I'm getting the fuck out of here!" I shout back… before realizing someone was missing.

Justin.

Fuck! Which rooms did he check?!

I check the door right next to the door we came in…

"HOLY CRAP!!!"

I quickly close the door and throw up again. Courtney, now (finally) concerned, rushed to me. "What's wrong?"

I look up and gulp, despite the horrid taste of puke in my mouth. "Justin's not talkin' anymore…"

"Well, duh! He hardly ever does anyway…"

"N-no…" Oh, God… how do I explain this without actually _showing_ her what I just saw? And I can't risk opening that door again. That… thing… might be right there waiting for us…

"…Duncan?"

"…Courtney… What I mean is… Justin's face… ain't so pretty anymore…"

**In a nearby room, a typewriter is being used…**

**-X-**

**Alright, to clarify exactly what's going on here:**

**First of all, the room Duncan finds Geoff and Bridgette in is in fact the same room that Heather was about to enter at the end of Chapter Two. The two paths were supposed to intertwine here.**

**Second, the room Duncan finds Justin in is the room that Team Two had entered the hall through. If you recall, that's the same room with the "sleeping" intern.**

**Third, the hallway Team Four is in now (the same hallway Team Two was obviously in before) was the point where all four paths would eventually come together. Unfortunately, as you've already read, the other two groups didn't quite make it to this hallway.**

**For those of you still confused, I am **_**attempting**_** a drawing (via MS Paint) of the "floor plans" to the facility (in an RE-like style), and once it's done it'll be uploaded to DeviantART (unless I forget). That should clear up a few things for you guys.**


	8. Chapter 8, Leshawna

**The typing ceases. The progress is saved.**

LESHAWNA

10:45 A.M.

TEAM TWO HALLWAY

-X-

Whoa… this place is givin' me the heebie jeebies…

It looks like some sort of rundown school hallway.

I continue to look at my surroundings. Two paintings on the wall catch my eye. "…Doctor James Marcus… Wait, you mean to tell me those two are the same guy? Now _that's_ freaky."

But enough sidetrackin'. I gotta keep goin'!

I reach a set of doors, and I open 'em.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Dayum, Chris! You coulda at least cleaned this place out a little bit. There's piles of paper and crap all over the dadgum place!

Unless that was part of the challenge, but still! Holy cats…

I go over to the next door and open it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

OH MY GOD!!

The once pretty Justin is lying on the floor, parts of his body ripped or eaten. His face is a complete wreck—there is so much missin' that I probably wouldn't have even noticed it's him if it weren't for me starin' at that green T-shirt all week waitin' for it to come off.

I notice a zombie scratching at the other door, wanting to get out that way.

He turns to me.

Uh-oh…

I back up a little bit, but I'm too scared to reach for the handle of the door behind me. What if this zombie was one of those fast zombies that walk slowly toward you 'til you try to run and then tackles you down and bites your head off? It probably wouldn't be much worse than a slow, painful death, but either way I still can't move…

Suddenly, the door behind me opens, hitting me from behind. This must have knocked some sense into me, as I am now able to use my legs. I run toward the corner of the room, noticing that the zombie was now focused on whoever was coming through the door.

**BANG! BANG!**

"AAAAHHHH!!" What? There was a gun firin'! You don' think I'd flinch?

The zombie, who was now missing half of his head, falls to the floor, blood pooling from the large gunshot holes.

I turn to the person with the firearm (which turns out to be a shotgun).

…

"HAROLD?"

"Never doubt my wicked skills, Leshawna," he says, winking at me. "Now come on, we've got to find the others."

I slowly nod as he, followed by Chef and Chris, lead me to the door at the other side of the room.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"Leshawna!"

For the first time in over an hour, I grin. "Gwen!" I run over to and hug my pasty white girl, practically lifting her off the ground. "You guys have no idea how worried I was for y'all! Now, c'mon! Let's get out of here."

"Not so fast, Shawnie."

A gun cocks, and my eyes widen in shock. I turn toward my addresser.

Duncan.

"I don't know about you guys, but I ain't leavin' without Princess."

"Huh?"

"Courtney ran off. She still doesn't realize this place is crawling with these undead freaks! I would have gone after her, but I'm not stupid—I had nothing to defend myself with… but now that I've got a little protection," he lightly slaps his palm with the shotgun he is holding, "I can save her."

"Duncan, you're not going by yourself, are you?" Gwen asks, and I can only imagine how concerned she is for the delinquent.

"If I have to," he replies, and he walks toward the end of the hall.

"Wait!"

He stops, and we all turn to Gwen, who is now walking toward him. "We're not leaving you here, Duncan."

"Yeah, dude," Cody adds, "it's too dangerous to go alone. But if we stick together, we have a better chance of all of us getting out of here."

Everyone agrees… except for…

"Okay, seriously, is this _really_ worth all the trouble for Court—" Chris stops as Duncan points the shotgun at him, and I laugh at the poor host's reaction. "I-I-I mean… let's go save Courtney! That's what I meant. Heh heh…" He turns to Chef. "Exactly why did you give him a gun?" he tries to whisper, but I'm sure everyone heard him anyway.

Chef ignores him. "Alright, gang: I've got a bag full of firearms. I'm not sure if y'all are legally obligated to use firearms, but up until we get the hell out of here I don't really care. Now, let's see…" As Harold and Duncan already have shotguns, he goes straight to me. "Take this handgun. It ain't much, but I got plenty of ammo for 'em if you need 'em." He goes over to Noah, Trent, and Gwen, and hands them handguns as well. He then turns to Cody. "A'ight, I don't have anymore 'simple' handguns, so this'll have to do." He hands Cody a magnum and Cody lights up like a Christmas tree. Then he turns to Chris. "Um… sorry. All out."

"But what about that shotgun still in the bag?" the television host observes.

"That's for me, dumbass." Then, he starts handing out the ammunition. "A'ight, remember now: don't shoot unless you need to. Conserve your ammo, or you'll be fucked. Hard. In the ass. And we don't want that, do we?" He stops in front of Noah for some reason, shakes his head, and walks away. "Any questions?"

Izzy raises her hand.

"…Ugh… What?"

"How come _I_ don't get a gun, yet _Cody_ gets a freaking _magnum_?"

"Because you're FUCKING PSYCHO, THAT'S WHY!" he shouts, and Izzy cackles in agreement.

"A'ight," he continues, "ready, men?"

I clear my throat.

"…Ladies…"

"That's better."

"Let's do this!"

We make our way down the hall, which forks left and right. We go left first. The only thing there is a restroom, and we make no progress, so we go the other way.

As Chef finds yet another restroom in this direction, I notice Cody stopping in front of a plaque on the wall. Much like the plaque I had seen earlier, this one was also in between two images.

Only these were portraits, not paintings.

The first was a black and white portrait of a blond middle-aged man with glasses. The second was in color and depicted two adorable children, possibly brother and sister, with arms around each others' shoulders.

I read the plaque.

_ASHFORD HALL_

_Built in 1985 in loving memory of two of Umbrella's greatest minds._

_Edward Ashford, 1917-1968._

_Alexia Ashford, 1971-1983._

…Wow. I read the plaque again, especially noting the age of the young girl. "Greatest mind at… twelve years old? Now _that's_ one smart cookie."

"It's too bad she died," Cody adds. "She probably could've helped solve our zombie problem."

"Maybe."

"Hey, slowpokes!" I hear Chris call from my right. "Quit sight-seeing and get over here! Everyone else is downstairs already!"

I look over to him. He has the door at the end of the hall open for us, and I notice the staircase leading down. Oh, great… there are multiple floors to this dadgum facility?

Great… Courtney, why'd you have to be so… Courtney?

-X-

11:10 A.M.

FIRST BASEMENT

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

There's some sort of large mechanical doohickey in front of us. Harold offers to inspect it. After about a minute, he comes back to us.

"Apparently, this machine controls the switches on the above floor," Harold explains to us. "I'm assuming it's referring to the doors in the entryway, but I could be wrong."

"Makes sense to me," I say, and Harold warmly smiles at me. I smile back… in a _friendly_ way.

"Also, I noticed a door to the right and a ladder on the other side of the machine," he adds. "I'll check out the room first. If I'm not out in sixty seconds, just go on without me. I'll catch up."

Wary, but with understanding, we nod at the gawky teenager, who grins and leaves us.

-X-

11:12 A.M.

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

…Where the hell is Harold?

Oh God… What if something happened to him?

Suddenly, an alarm sounds.

"**LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED."**

What the—? How the—?

The machine begins to whir. A series of clinking and rattling sounds could be heard.

"**TWO HOURS BEFORE LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES TERMINATE."**

I look at the others in shock, then in fear.

They do the same.

Two hours…

We're stuck in this hell for at least two more hours…

-X-

11:15 A.M.

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

Harold still hasn't come out of that room.

Duncan growls. "Let's just go! Courtney's probably downstairs anyway."

"…Wouldn't it be down-_ladder_?"

"SHUT UP, IZZY!!"

That was from all of us… except Izzy, of course.

I sigh. "Duncan's right… Harold told us to go on without him if he hadn't come back." I shake my head. "I didn't think he was serious, but…"

"Don't worry, Leshawna," Gwen comforts me. "Harold doesn't give up that easily. I'm sure he's fine."

I nod. "Yeah… but I still feel awful. We shoulda listened to him, Gwen. We shoulda never entered this damn place!"

"Calm down," she says, and I try to. "We'll be fine. Don't worry." I don't know what to say… but damn does she know how to get to me.

"A'ight. Let's go," I finally say, and she smiles. I do too, despite it all.

"Alright, if this snoresfest is now over, let's go, bros!" Chris commands, earning glares from the rest of us.

…But he has a point. If we don't find Courtney, this "rescue mission" of sorts will be all for nothing.

So, we head down the ladder…

_(Clink, clank, clink, clank, down the ladder we go…)_

We're in a small room. Another door is right in front of us.

"Wait, before we go any further," Noah says before walking over to… Wait… What's a typewriter doin' in here?

"What do you need to vent about now?" Cody asks, but Noah shakes his head.

"I'm not venting this time. If we're really stuck down here, and something bad happens to us, maybe someone will someday find this place and find out what really happened here from my documents. That way, no one will ever use this damn facility for any reality show challenges EVER AGAIN," he adds, glaring at Chris.

Duncan scoffs. "Fine! Do whatever! I don't care! But I'm looking for Courtney, not writing a freaking book!" He goes through the door. Chris, Chef, Trent, Gwen, and I follow.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"Alright, so we're down a few people… no big deal," Duncan says. "And they would've held us back anyway."

"Duncan! Not cool!" I scowl.

I hear the door behind us open. "W-W-Wait up!" We turn and find Cody, with Izzy in tow. "Don't forget about us. Noah says he'll be right behind us. Just give him a few minutes."

"We don't _have_ a few minutes, geek!" Duncan growls. "Courtney could get eaten at any second! If your boyfriend can't see that, he's an idiot."

"Hey! Not cool, man!"

"What, are you insecure about your sexual orientation, hotshot?"

"No, I'm objecting to your claim of Noah being an idiot!"

"SHUT UP, MAGGOTS!!!" Chef finally shouts, and I take a breath, not realizing I hadn't been breathin' since that argument began. "Now's not the time for arguing. Now's the time for ACTION!!"

Well, I guess we can all agree to that.

**In the room behind us, Noah uses the typewriter…**

**-X-**

**Special thanks goes to my beta nikki-kun05. Thanks for... um... betaing...**

**...**

**You know what I mean.**


	9. Chapter 9, Trent

**I felt it would be rather fitting to make the ninth chapter from Trent's POV. Don't you agree?**

**-X-**

TRENT

10:45 A.M.

SMALL OFFICE

-X-

"…Aren't you done yet, man?"

"No."

"Dude… how long have you been…'venting' anyway?"

"I'd tell you, but I wasn't keeping track."

"What are you even typing about?"

"Things not meant to be seen by mortal eyes."

"…Okay, dude. Get away from the typewriter."

"No."

"Cody?"

He looks up at me. "Hmm?"

I frown. Cody had been lost in thought nearly the whole time we were in here. He barely spoke at all. And I think I know why…

Dude… You gotta get over her, man.

I know that's not the best thing to say (why do you think I'm not saying it?), but it's true. He needs to move on. Maybe he'll find a relationship in one of the other girls? I hear Beth likes him… and Sadie mentioned him a few times…

"Dude?"

My thoughts are broken by his voice. "Uh… Can you get Noah to stop? We probably should start going."

"Yeah, Izzy's so bored right now, Izzy wants to throw typewriter at Trent's large head," Izzy replies, scaring me a little with that last part.

"Alright, FINE! I'm done!" Noah growls at us as he stands up. "Sorry I was such a damn inconvenience to each and every one of you."

"Hey, man," Cody starts, "you're not an inconvenience. You just need to chill, dude."

I cringe slightly, waiting for what would possibly be another explosion of pissed off from the brainiac, but instead he loosens his shoulders. "You're right."

Wow… How the hell did Cody do that?

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Gwen inquires. "Let's get out of here!"

None of us hesitate to oblige.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

"Guys? Oh, thank God!"

My eyes widen. Duncan?

"Duncan!" Gwen shouts happily (perhaps TOO happily?) and hugs him tight (perhaps TOO tight?). I roll my eyes. Okay, so I'm a little jealous. But still… can you blame me? I mean, they have a lot in common, and it scares me.

It _really_ scares me…

"Where's your team?" Cody suddenly asks. Huh, I didn't even notice he was alone.

Duncan frowns. "Courtney and I… we're the only ones left…"

…W-What?

"NO!" Gwen shouts. "Bridgette…? Geoff…?" He nods, and Gwen just breaks down. She's not even making any sounds.

Quickly, I wrap my arms around her. "Gwen, shh… It's okay… It's okay…"

"N-no… No it's not. They're…" She can't finish her sentence. God, why did this have to happen? Why?

Cody suddenly seems to pop up out of nowhere. "Look, there's nothing we can do about them now, but we can still make it out of here." He tries to smile at us, but I can tell it's fake.

But somehow it works. "Okay," Gwen slowly nods, still sobbing silently. She doesn't smile, but I can tell she's in much better shape.

First Noah… now Gwen…

Damn, Cody, how do you do it?

"Wait… You said Courtney was still with you, right?" Noah asks, and I mentally slap myself in the forehead for not noticing that either. "Where is she?"

Duncan sighs. "Courtney… doesn't know about the zombies. She thinks I'm making it up to scare her, and she ran off to look for the case herself."

"Why didn't you go after her?" Izzy asks.

"Are you insa—nevermind. Look, I'm not armed. I can't defend myself against zombie attacks if I don't have something to fend them off!"

"That's no excuse," Izzy says, waving a finger at him.

**BANG! BANG!**

HOLY CRAP!

Gwen, who was already terrified before, is now shivering up against me… not that I don't mind. I just wish it'd be under different circumstances.

I hear doors open—the doors we had entered through earlier.

Gwen's the first one to react. "Leshawna!" She breaks free from my grasp, and the two embrace each other in a hug. Of course, I smile—Gwen's happiness is strangely contagious.

"Now, c'mon! Let's get out of here!"

"Not so fast, Shawnie."

The sound of a gun cocking erases the sudden burst of good mood we just had.

"I don't know about you guys, but I ain't leavin' without Princess."

Oh, man…

Duncan explains to Leshawna about Courtney and reveals he's going after her.

"Duncan, you're not going by yourself, are you?" I sigh inwardly. There she goes again… right into his arms, practically. Or at least she might as well have. Ugh! Gwen, you do realize he's in a relationship, right? And you are too?

…Damn it! I gotta stop thinking like that… They're just friends. She's just concerned. This… damn place is just getting to me, that's all.

…At least… I hope so, anyway…

Besides, she's right. Courtney may not be the nicest person in the world, but to leave her here would be just plain cruel. So I agree to this rescue mission. Heh heh… Rescue mission… That sounds pretty cool… or at least it would if our lives weren't at stake.

Chef then hands us weapons, and thankfully Izzy doesn't get one. I don't know much about guns, really, but I could tell the differences between certain types. Like, I knew what the shotgun looked like, and I could see a notable difference in the handgun Chef gave Cody and the other handguns. I assume ours are… more common? I don't know, honestly.

Chef gives us a small pep talk about ammunition, and soon we are on our way.

We come to a fork in the hallway, and decide to go left first. There's only one door, and it's a restroom.

So we go the other way.

Near the end of the hall, there's a door going right and a door heading straight. Chef quickly checks the door to the right, and tells us it's another restroom. Then, we head through the door ahead of us.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

It's a stairway leading down.

Chef goes first, followed by Duncan. I follow, and judging by the gentle hands on my shoulders I can only assume Gwen's right behind me. I smile. "Don't worry, Gwen. We'll be fine."

"Hmm?"

Hmm? I turn around. "What do you mean 'hm'—Izzy?!"

"What? What did I do?"

"Please give me my shoulders back, Izzy."

"Oh, sorry."

We reach the end of the stairway, and enter through the door.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We're in a circular-shaped room. Taking up most of the space in the room is a large cylindrical machine.

The door behind us opens again, and Chris, Cody, and Leshawna appear. "What'd we miss?" Chris asks, while Cody and Leshawna gape in awe at the strange contraption in the middle of the room.

Harold offers to inspect the machine, and leaves us by the door. About a minute later, he comes back. "Apparently, this machine controls the switches on the above floor. I'm assuming it's referring to the doors in the entryway, but I could be wrong."

"Makes sense to me," Leshawna says.

Harold continues. "Also, I noticed a door to the right and a ladder on the other side of the machine. I'll check out the room first. If I'm not out in sixty seconds, just go on without me. I'll catch up."

With that, Harold separates from the group, and we wait.

…And wait…

…And wait…

…And wait…

I could tell Leshawna was getting more and more anxious. Hell, so was I! Harold said he'd be back in under a minute. He didn't.

"**LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED."**

What the hell?!

"**TWO HOURS BEFORE LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES TERMINATE."**

…You're kidding, right?

Dammit…

-X-

11:16 A.M.

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

We can't wait for Harold any longer, so we decide to go on without him, just like he told us to do.

As Harold explained to us before, there's a ladder on the other side of the room, and we use it.

_(Clink, clank, clink, clank, down the ladder we go…)_

We're in another small room, with yet another typewriter.

And Noah heads over to it right away.

I groan. There's no time for that!

Duncan apparently agrees, as he leaves the room, with the majority of us in tow.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"Alright, so we're down a few people… no big deal," Duncan says. "And they would've held us back anyway."

Leshawna quickly replies to Duncan's statement.

The door behind us opens. "W-W-Wait up!" It's Cody and Izzy. "Don't forget about us. Noah says he'll be right behind us. Just give him a few minutes."

Then Duncan, once again, leads us into another argument. Ugh… great… Gwen, how do you deal with this guy?

…

I really need to stop thinking like this…

**In the room behind us, Noah uses the typewriter…**


	10. Chapter 10, Harold

**It's been stewing in the back of your minds for the past two chapters, hasn't it? What is with that lockdown? What caused that lockdown? WHO caused that lockdown? Well, that's going to be answered… very soon…**

**-X-**

HAROLD

10:45 A.M.

FACILITY ENTRANCE

-X-

I stop and gasp for air, reaching for my inhaler. Okay. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. There we go…

I shake the cobwebs out of my head. I've got to get to the others. I've got to hurry!

…

…

…

…

…

I stop and gasp for air. Dammit! I need to learn and pace myself…

"Keep a-comin', slowpoke!" Chef calls. He and Chris are way ahead of me. "You want to protect Leshawna, don't ya?"

Somehow, that causes a spark inside me. It gives me enough rigor to keep going.

Protect Leshawna… Yeah… That's what I'll do…

We finally reach the large room with the switches. Without thinking, I quickly ask Eva, DJ, and Ezekiel where Leshawna went. Ezekiel points toward his door, and I run through that door. Chef and Chris follow.

-X-

10:47 A.M.

TEAM TWO HALLWAY

-X-

We go straight through the hallway. I don't pay attention to any of the scenery around me, and neither do Chris and Chef.

I hold my shotgun close to my chest. If those undead bastards lay a hand on my fair Leshawna…

…

…Well, I really don't know what would happen then, but I'd probably use this shotgun on them.

We reach the doors at the end of the hall and go through them.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"GOSH!! Chris, you really need to pay someone to do some house cleaning."

"This was part of the challenge," he explains to me.

We step through the mess of papers all over the floor and reach the other side of the room.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

GOSH!!

Already, my first zombie! That was fast!

It looks at me, blood dripping from its mouth, its cold, dead eyes staring into my soul.

I aim the shotgun at its head. I pull the trigger twice, and the zombie falls.

I grin, and for the first time since I entered the room I notice I'm not the only one in it.

"HAROLD?"

I turn to her, my smile widening, now that I know she's alright. I winked at her. "Never doubt my wicked skills, Leshawna. Now, come on. We've got to find the others."

Then our party of (now) four left the room, and only then did I notice Justin's fallen form. Poor guy…

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"Leshawna!"

I smile. So there ARE more survivors! Great!

…But wait… Some people are missing…

Like all of Team One, for starters.

"Now, c'mon! Let's get out of here!"

"Not so fast, Shawnie."

I hear a gun cock. Uh-oh… I turn to find Duncan with a shotgun.

…Chef, you gave HIM a shotgun?!

"I don't know about you guys, but I ain't leavin' without Princess," he says.

Okay, as much as I don't like Courtney, I have to admit it'd be very dishonorable to leave her in such a horrible place. The least we can do is try and look for her. So when people start agreeing to Duncan's rescue mission, I agree along with them.

Chef starts handing out firearms to the others, and though I have a shotgun, I admit I'm a little jealous of Cody.

Once all the weapons are distributed, we begin our search…

-X-

11:10 A.M.

FIRST BASEMENT

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

Our search ultimately leads us to this large room, circular in terms of surface area, but more cylindrical in terms of the overall shape.

"I'll check out the machine," I say, and I walk along the walkway surrounding the machine. As I look at the large contraption, I also take note of the room itself. There's a door on the right side of the room and a downward-heading ladder on the other side (both in terms of where we came in from).

I also notice a sign on the machine that says that it controls the switches on the above floor.

I head back to the others and tell them what I found. I also offer to check the room by myself first before they head down the ladder (from the looks of things, the side door was only that—a side door. I figured it was just a small room).

And with that, I head toward the door. There's no knob, but there is a button, and I press it. As I had assumed, the door opens.

_(The door slides open to the right.)_

It's a small laboratory—a blinding white laboratory, really. And I mean blinding! I'm talking God's robes white here!

"GOSH!" I cry, as the whiteness was just too much for me to handle all at once. "They couldn't go for a beige wall or something?"

When my eyes finally adjust to the room, I look around the laboratory, searching for any clues on whether or not Courtney had come through here. I notice two vials on a rack, and one broken on the floor. I assume one of the interns had been messing with this.

That's probably how this all happened in the first place.

The possible deaths of many here on Wawanakwa Island all began here.

At one point, I notice a button on the wall. It's large and red—that's how I was able to notice it so easily. It contrasted well with the white.

I read the sign above it.

_LOCKDOWN_

_In case of Outbreak, press button._

_Vents and door in laboratory will shut and lock, and may save the others in the facility._

_In case button is not pressed on time, and Virus spreads through the facility via the ventilation system, the facility will also be closed off from the rest of the Island to prevent Outbreak from spreading._

_Lockdown procedures last Two Hours. By then, the Virus will most likely be dormant._

Wow… This is serious business.

…Really serious…

My stress levels begin to increase.

I start to sweat.

Oh, God…

The stress is too much.

Thump-thump-thump. Thump. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

Oh, God!

I clutch my chest. No! Not now! Please, no!

My heart is palpitating.

Oh, God, no!

I stumble a little, and I fall.

I try to grab hold of something, but I take it with me.

Whatever it is, it falls from my hands.

**CRACK!**

…What the hell did I grab?

I look down. "GOSH!!"

It was a vial.

_Was._

It's now a broken vial.

Fuck! FUCK!!

Despite the pain and the palpitations, I think quickly and hurriedly slam the button.

An alarm sounds.

"**LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED. TWO HOURS BEFORE LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES TERMINATE."**

I want to smile, but I can't. I may have saved everyone else's lives right now.

But I can't smile because…

…Because I can't save my own…

I fall to the floor. The whiteness of the room is now getting darker. The room itself is getting blurrier.

I sob quietly as my life flashes before my eyes. My friends, my family, the campers…

…Leshawna…

…

The final thought of the Lovely Chocolate Sunshine that is Leshawna allows me to finally smile. Very fitting. You would think that Harold would be the type to die smiling.

So I make sure she's my last thought.

…

…She is.

_**YOU ARE DEAD**_

**-X-**

**Hmm... I wonder how many people I've just pissed off right now...**

**Hey, I've had this planned out several chapters ago. Get a grip. This is a tragedy fic. People are going to die. Don't like it, don't read.**


	11. Chapter 11, Duncan

**The typing ceases. The progress is saved.**

DUNCAN

11:23 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

"_You're just trying to scare me, Duncan. You don't want me to win the million dollars, do you?"_

"_Courtney…"_

"_You want _Gwen_ to win it, don't you?"_

"_Courtney!"_

"_Don't lie to me, asshole! You wanted her to win the money all along!"_

"_If I remember correctly, I was on Team-Fucking-Owen in the final episode!"_

"_Only because _I_ was on Team Owen."_

"_Well, there you go! You just poked a hole in your own logic, Princess!"_

"_How dare you! Hmph! I'm not leaving this place without that million dollars, and there's NOTHING you can do to stop me, Duncan!"_

"…_Dammit!"_

-X-

I growl. The fucking bookworm was only holding us back anyway. I'm glad we left his ass behind.

Some people aren't too happy with this decision. What, they're afraid something bad is going to happen to Noah, too? Fuck it! Courtney's nowhere near as much of an asshole as Noah is, if that's what their problem is.

It's the same thing with Harold. He only said to wait a fucking minute, not fucking… what, ten? So much time wasted… and now they want to wait for NOAH?!

If Courtney's not alive when we find her, I'm personally taking these bastards out. I don't care! I've spent years in juvie—what difference is prison?

…Oh, great…

We're at the end of the hallway. There is a door on the left, a door on the right, and two doors ahead of us.

"Where do we go now, Chris?" Trent asks, and our "gracious" host taps his chin.

"Um… If I remember correctly, the four teams were supposed to disband here yet again," he says, and confirms it by pointing to the numbers on the doors, "1", "2", "3", and "4", of course. "I don't remember which one leads to the case the fastest…"

"We don't care about no case no more, Chris," Leshawna says.

"Yeah, we're looking for Courtney, dude," Cody adds.

"Oh, right. Yeah… I forgot…" I glare at the asshole in front of me as he chuckles nonchalantly. "Alright, we'll split up into groups. Chef and I will go through door number one, because _I'm_ number one." I growl, and he quickly puts up his hands. "Kidding! Geesh! But yeah, we'll go that way, and you guys can figure the rest out on your own."

"…Alright, fine." I continue to glare at the host as he and Chef enter the door marked "1".

Gwen speaks up next. "Okay, so Trent and I will go down door number—"

"Hell, no!" I interrupt. "All that's going to do is cause some major fucking distractions. I told you that Geoff and Bridgette are already dead. Do you want his lips to be the nail on your coffin?"

I cringe at the death glare Gwen gives me. What can I say? She's pretty scary at times. Not that that's a bad thing, but I didn't mean to piss her off. We need to be focused if we're going to survive.

Luckily, Trent saves my ass. "It's cool, Gwen. Besides, I need to have a word with Duncan in private anyway."

She rolls her eyes, but agrees. "Fine. I guess I'm with Le—"

"I-CALL-LESHAWNA!!"

We all turn to Izzy, who smiles back at us. "What? I don't want to be the one to get in the way of Cody and Noah. No-sir-ee-bob. Third wheel never gets any attention. Besides! Cody's got a magnum. You should consider yourself lucky, scary lady."

"Ugh… FINE!" Oh, boy… This ought to be fun. Too bad I'm going to miss it.

…Ah, who am I kidding? I don't give a shit.

I suddenly hear heavy breathing from up the hall, and soon Noah appears. "…Dammit… I said I was coming, didn't I? Alright, now what's going on?"

It's at this point that I wonder why Trent and I are still fucking here.

"Come on, Elvis! Let's go!" I open door number four, across the hall from door number one, and we enter through it.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We haven't even been down this hall for five seconds—"We need to talk."

"No, we need to _focus_," I sternly reply. "We need to _survive_. We'll have plenty of time to talk later."

"Not if we're dead."

I groan, but say nothing.

He continues. "Look, this is serious, okay? If I'm going to learn to trust you—"

I interrupt him—I see where this is going, and I don't like it. "Dude, if you have a brain in that big head of yours, you WILL shut up. Got it?"

I look away. Big mistake.

He shoves me down.

I fall to the floor, landing on my left arm. "AGH!" I turn onto my back and hold my arm in pain before looking up at my attacker. "What the fuck, man?!"

"Don't play dumb, hot shot! Now, I'm warning you. You better stay away from Gwen, or else."

I knew it. I slowly got up, still holding my arm. "Or else what, asshole?"

Big mistake number two.

He points his handgun at me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I hold up my arms defensively, though it probably won't help much. "Take it easy, dude." I admit, though, that I don't blame him. This facility is starting to get to me, too.

I think back to what I had thought before… about killing everyone that wanted to wait for Noah if Courtney was dead when we found her. Yeah. This facility really _is_ starting to get to me.

But I realize now, with a gun pointed at my face, that killing the others would not solve anything in this situation.

I hope _he_ realizes that, too…

Thankfully, he does.

He puts the gun away. "Sorry, man. It's this damn place! And Gwen's somewhere in this place without me to protect her, and…" He stops. At first I'm concerned, but suddenly he smiles. "Wait… Cody's with her, right?"

"…I think so."

"Oh, that's good then."

Alright, now I'm confused. The dude's a horndog in love with this guy's girlfriend. I thought that'd scare the shit out of him. "How is _that_ good?"

He chuckles, confusing me even more. "Because I know Cody. He'd do anything to protect her. And besides, I'm not worried about him stealing Gwen away from me. Gwen's not even remotely interested in him."

"So what makes you think she's interested in me?" Sorry, but I _really_ have to ask that after such a set of events. I mean, shit! He almost killed me because he thought _I_ would do something to her, but now he's acting like it's no big deal at all!

"Well, you two _do_ have a lot in common," he explains.

"…Okay, I'll give you that, but I still can't believe you're not worried about Cody. I mean, hell, you two aren't really all that different, you know."

"…What?" I turn to look at his face—his long, largely open mouthed, wide-eyed face. I wish I had a camera, honestly. It's pretty funny.

"Well, you two have an interest in music… and you both get hurt… _a lot_. And boy, do I mean a _lot_! I mean, damn, if Gwen's got some sort of weird schadenfreude-related fetish, you're screwed, my man."

"Okay, _now_ you're just _trying_ to piss me off."

"I'm just saying… you have no reason to be scared of me when she's with Sir Horndog, the First." I let out a good, long, hard laugh, my eyes shut and slightly watering. Sir Horndog I… Ha! That's rich…

I finally open my eyes when I finish laughing. My smile suddenly drops.

Trent is missing.

…

Oh, shit…

I hear a door slam far, far behind me. No doubt it was the door we came in through. I rest my hand on my head. Oh, shit. Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. What the hell did I just do? I already knew this place was driving us insane! If I just pushed him over the edge…

…Oh, God…

Now I face a dilemma. Do I trek forward and look for Courtney, or do I keep Trent from doing something bat-shit crazy?

…

Dammit! This is one tough decision to make!

Ugh! Duncan, why did you have to be Duncan?

…Screw it! I'm going after him!

Damn these delays!

-X-

11:35 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

…Oh, shit, that's right. We never stayed to see with hall the other two groups went through.

Well, I've got two choices. Door number two and door number three.

Well, there's only one way to solve this…

"Eenie, meenie, meinie, moe…"

-X-

11:36 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

"…My parole officer told me to pick the very best one and YOU. ARE. IT."

Well, looks like I'm going through door number two.

Here's to hoping this is the right one.

Or, if I'm lucky, Trent chose the wrong one, too, and I can still stop him from doing something stupid.

I reach for the door handle…

**BANG**

A scream follows.

They came from door number three.

Oh, shit…

I'm too late…

**A few minutes later, someone in the facility begins to type…**

**-X-**

**Oh, crap! What the hell happened here? Did Trent snap and kill someone? Or did someone just shoot a zombie, making this event a buzz-kill? Or is Duncan just hearing things? Did he snap, too?**

**Or did something **_**else**_** happen here…?**

**I assure you, the ultimate nagging question of "What the hell happened?" will be answered… in due time. And who knows…? It may be what you think happened… but then again… it may **_**not**_** be…**

…

**And seriously, where the hell are they finding all these typewriters?**


	12. Chapter 12, Izzy

IZZY

11:25 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

"Okay, so Trent and I will go down door number—"

"Hell, no!" WOOT! Punk/Goth fight! "All that's going to do…" Yawn. Booooooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Seriously, someone run around naked or something.

…

Hmm… Maybe _I_ should…

"…Besides, I need to have a word with Duncan in private, anyway."

Hmm? Oh! Are we choosing teams? Cool! Me first! Me first!

"I-CALL-LESHAWNA!!" I shout.

…Everyone is looking at me. "What?" Wasn't that what we were doing? Choosing teams? Ha! Silly gooses… geese… whatever. But, if they want an explanation, fine. "I don't want to be the one to get in the way of Cody and Noah. No-sir-ee-bob. Third wheel never gets any attention. Besides! Cody's got a magnum. You should consider yourself lucky, scary lady."

Scary lady scowls at me. What? What did I do? "Fine!" Yes! She concedes! I win! I win! …What do I win?

…Oh, look! It's Noah! Did I win him? I hope not. He's with Cody, ain't he?

"…Dammit… I said I was coming, didn't I? Alright, now what's going on?"

"Come on, Elvis! Let's go!" punk dude says as he and Trent go through one of the numbered doors.

"…Well?"

Cody finally answers Noah's question. "We split up into groups." Awwww… Don't they make a cute couple?

"…And Trent and Gwen are separated… why?"

"I'd like to know that, too," scary lady says under her breath, but I heard it. I HEARD IT, I tells ya!

"Well, let's see…" Noah looks over to our group for some reason, and then looks at Cody. Aww! He's looking at Cody! Ha-HA-HA! I knew it. I knew it.

"…Alright, I guess I'm with your group, Izzy."

My eyes widen. "…Huh?" I have to say, this is quite a shocker.

Noah explains, "Cody and Gwen both have guns. Only Leshawna has a gun in your group. You need me more than they do."

"…But what about Co—"

"Dang, girl! Shut up!" Leshawna says.

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!!"

-X-

11:27 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR TWO" HALLWAY

-X-

"Okay, this one time at band camp—"

"Izzy…"

"—there was this pterodactyl that swooped in and—"

"Izzy!"

"—this dude crapped his pants. It smelled AWFUL! Anyway—"

"IIIIIIIZZYYYYYYYY!!"

"WWWWHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"SHUT UP!"

"…Geez, Noah! Who died and made YOU drama queen?"

"Ugh! …There better be a typewriter around here somewhere…"

I cackle at my own amusement. Noah's so funny when he's pissed off. "…Anyway, so after the pterodactyl appeared, a kaleidoscope fell from its mouth. It was so cool! I think it was some sort of sign, really… maybe to change my name… to Kaleidoscope! Yeah! Doesn't that sound awesome?"

"…"

"And you can call me E-Scope for short!"

"…Izzy—"

"E-scope."

"…E-Scope… shut up…"

"I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!"

"…Whatever… Leshawna, how are you holding up?"

"I don't think it was a good idea for Chef Hatchet to give me a gun…"

"Good call. Same here…"

I continue to tell them my super-awesome stories all the way down to the end of the hall. …Wait… A dead-end? What a gyp!

"UGH!" Noah groans. "What the hell?! What do we do now?"

"Wait, check this out," Leshawna points to a large portrait of a blond man in a red military uniform. A _really_ large portrait. As if it's a secret door.

…Hey! Maybe it is!

As I try to pry open the "door" with my bare hands (though I don't succeed… it must be bolted pretty tight!), Leshawna reads something on the wall. "Dedicated to Alfred Ashford, the last of the Ashford family. May his days be long and prosperous."

"Insert Star Trek pun here," Noah adds, and I cackle, still trying to pry open the "door."

"…Well, this isn't much help," Leshawna says. "…But what the heck is this?" She points down to something below the text on the plaque. There are four semi-circlular spaces.

"I think something is supposed to go here," Noah points out. He and Leshawna look around the hall, and I decide to as well, as I can't get the "door" open.

My eyes eventually land on something we all had missed before on our way to this area. Halfway through the hall, there is a decoration in the shape of a dragonfly. An idea forming in my head, I quickly grab it and head to the others. "Hey, check this out! The wings look like they could fit."

Noah rolls his eyes at me. "Um… If you haven't noticed, these four semi-circular spaces are SEPARATE from each…oth…er… Izzy, what the hell are you doing with that thing?"

I tug on one of the wings. It comes loose. "Aha! See? These come off." I remove the first wing and hand it to him. "Now put that into the wall."

Noah looks at me in shock. "…Wow. Izzy, I gotta hand it to you… only you are crazy enough to think of something like this." He inserts the first wing into one of the spaces. "…Oh, my God… They actually do fit."

"Now what kind of sick ticket…?" Leshawna begins, but doesn't finish, as I continue to remove the wings from the dragonfly-shaped decoration.

Once all four wings are inserted into the spaces, we are greeted with a soft melody, like a song from a music box. I rock my head back and forth to the beat. Hey, what can I say? It's catchy. Bum bah bum bah bum bah-nah-nah-nah-nah…

When the song stops, the portrait/door unlatches and slowly opens. I grin wickedly. "Yes! I knew that was a door!"

_(We enter through the secret door…)_

"A spiral staircase. How anticlimactic."

I cackle at Noah's cynicism. Man, he's such a sourpuss… but in a good way.

The kind of sourpussness you find attractive, I should say.

…

Er, that _Cody_ would find attractive, I mean. Heehee…

"Izzy, are you—"

"E-Scope."

"…E-Scope, are you coming or what?"

"…Oh, whoops! Rescue mission. Right."

_(Spiraling down the staircase like a downward spiral of despair…)_

The hallway we are in is lit up by overhead fluorescent lights. There aren't many doors in this hallway—only three.

Leshawna speaks up first. "Yo, Noah, you got a watch?"

"Yeah."

"What time is it, boy?"

He checks. "…11:34."

"Thought it was gettin' close to noon. Man, you didn't pack any lunch, did you?"

I perk up at the thought of lunch. "Ooh! Ooh! Me, too! I could _totally_ go for some koala burgers right now…"

"…Riiiiight…"

Pfft! Some people just don't get good cuisine.

"Well, where to first?" Leshawna asks.

"Might as well check out each door one-by-one," Noah replied. He checked the door closest to them. Locked. "Damn. Alright, let's check this one." He heads to the next door. It's locked too. "What the hell? I hope we can get further than this, damn it."

"…Wait, I just realized somethin'," Leshawna begins speaking as Noah makes his way to the third door. "If WE have to figure out these puzzles, doesn't that mean Courtney hasn't—"

"Aha!" Noah exclaims, interrupting Leshawna, which amuses me. She was starting to sound boring anyway. "This door's unlocked. Let's check it out."

"Ugh… never mind…"

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

"EEK!" Noah quickly shoots into the darkness of the room. Leshawna hits the light switch.

As the lights turn on, we spy a zombie on the floor, blood spilling from the bullet wounds in its maggot-infested face.

AWESOME!!

"Oh, thank God!" Noah shouts, and I am confused at first… until I see him sprinting toward another damn typewriter. Ugh… What is it with this guy and typing?

"Hey, what's this?"

I turn to Leshawna. "Hmm?"

"It's a key to something," Leshawna tells me, holding it up to my face. "Maybe it unlocks one of the doors out there."

"Hey, that's a great idea, Leshawna!" I praise.

"…So, what do y'all think, Iz… I mean, E-Scope? Do you think we really need to go through all these puzzles knowin' that prissy little C.I.T. couldn't have gone this way, or do we keep going in the hopes that she's coming toward us from another direction?"

Honestly, I didn't understand a word Leshawna just said. "Um… fishcakes?"

"…What?"

"The hedgehog seems to be enjoying them!"

"…Did you just make an obscure reference to something I probably don't know about?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

"VENTING HERE!!" That was from Noah.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, whatever, Noah. You're just grumpy because you're separated from Cody."

He glares at me for a few seconds, and then continues typing.

**Let's see what he's typing. (looks) "Die, Izzy, Die"? That's so mean! You know my name is E-Scope now…**

**-X-**

**For those of you who don't know, the obscure reference at the end of the chapter is to Robotnik's Tea Party, a popular YouTube Poop Music Video. I forgot the screen name of the person who made it, and I apologize for that. Just know that I do not own the video.**


	13. Chapter 13, Gwen

GWEN

11:25 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT HALLWAY

-X-

"Okay, so Trent and I will go down door number—"

"Hell, no!"

My eyes widen at Duncan's outburst. What the hell?!

"All that's going to do is cause some major fucking distractions. I told you that Geoff and Bridgette are already dead. Do you want his lips to be the nail on your coffin?"

WHAT?! I glare at him. Contrary to popular belief, Trent and I do NOT make out every five fucking minutes! Just because we want to do everything together does NOT mean we're going to be making out on this fucking rescue mission!

"It's cool, Gwen," Trent speaks, taking me by surprise. "Besides, I need to have a word with Duncan in private anyway."

I scoff, rolling my eyes. Still, I trust Trent, so I let him go with Duncan. "Fine. I guess I'm with Le—"

"I-CALL-LESHAWNA!!"

WHAT THE HELL?!

Izzy explains herself, but I don't pay attention to a damn thing she says… except for the last part about considering myself lucky. Why am I lucky? HOW am I lucky? I'm stuck with…

Ah, damn it…

He's smiling at me. That gap-tooth grin… "UGH! FINE!" Yeah… I know that came out rather harsh… but…

Okay, look. It's not that I hate him. Really! I don't hate him at all, actually. But… I'm just sick and tired of… of hurting him. I don't want to… He's such a great guy, and I don't want to… hurt him anymore…

Damn it…

"…Dammit…" FINALLY!! Noah caught up. Maybe he'll keep Cody out of my hair. "I said I was coming, didn't I? Alright, now what's going on?"

"Come on, Elvis! Let's go!" And with that, my boyfriend and my punk friend disappear through door number four.

"…Well?" Noah seems rather agitated. Join the club, Brainiac.

"We split up into groups," Cody explains to Noah.

"…And Trent and Gwen are separated… why?"

Ugh… "I'd like to know that too," I mutter, honestly hoping no one heard me say it, especially not Cody.

"Well, let's see…" Noah begins to check our group, and Leshawna's group, and our group again, before confronting Leshawna and Izzy. "…Alright, I guess I'm with your group, Izzy."

"Ugh…" I groan again, and I can just feel Cody breaking down behind me. Fuck…

Leshawna's group goes through door two, and I whimper. Softly, yes, but still a whimper.

And Cody heard it, I'm sure…

"Come on, Gwen. We better get going."

I scratched the side of my neck. "Um… yeah… Let's get going…" I'm about to reach for the doorknob, but Cody quickly reaches for it first and offers to open it for me. Ugh… "Alright." Grinning sheepishly, he opens the door, and I enter first…

-X-

11:27 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR THREE" HALLWAY

-X-

We're silent. Yeah, silent. My dream come true, right?

Well, it would have been a dream come true several weeks ago. But now… I actually wanted him to speak. I wasn't sure why. I mean, we need to be on the look-out for zombies and everything, but… maybe it's the fact that we… we may not get out of here alive, that… that makes me want him to speak, you know? It makes me want to clear the air with him.

But… he's not speaking.

…

Damn it. I guess I'll have to start.

"Cody?"

We stop, and he looks at me, giving me a surprised look. "Huh?"

I sigh, trying to find the right words. "Look, I'm… sorry for hurting you." God, why does this have to be so awk—?"

"It's okay, Gwen."

…What? "What do you mean it's okay?"

"It's okay. You don't have to be sorry." He walks away.

Okay, now I'm confused. I grab him by the arm, stopping him. "Cody, listen to me. I've been down that road before, trust me. It hurts to feel rejected, I know. But please, Cody… You have to let it go, okay?"

"Gwen, it's fine. I'm good, okay?" he tries to reason, but it's not working on me. "It's just hard for a guy like me to get over a girl like you, that's all. Soon I'll be back on my feet and… and wooing the ladies… again…" He had been slowly backing up toward the wall as he said that, and after speaking, he slowly falls (using the wall for support) to a sitting position. Tears start to form.

Oh… shit…

I kneel down next to him, hoping to comfort him in some way. "Cody…" He pushes me away, despite my efforts.

"Who am I kidding? I'm just a poser… a wannabe… a nobody…"

"That's enough."

He turns to me, tears still falling from his face. "And I'll die a poser. A wannabe. A nobod—"

"That's enough!" I repeat, louder this time. He stays silent, but continues to cry.

…Damn…

I sit down next to him, sighing, hands on my forehead. This was going to be one long rescue mission, that's for sure. "Cody," I begin, "you're not any of those things. Believe me."

"Bullshit."

"Oh yeah? Because if you ask me, you didn't describe _yourself_ just now…"

"Oh, _really_? Then who the hell did I just describe?"

"…Me."

Silence follows. Maybe I shouldn't have been so blunt about it… but it had to be said. I may as well confide in someone before I die, and if that's Cody, then let it be Cody.

"Gwen…" he tries to object, but I won't have it.

"No, Cody, it's true." I sigh and hit the back of my head on the wall behind me before I continue. "I'm no fucking Goth. I mean, shit! If you look at me and my friends… I'm the black sheep. And that's fucking saying something!" I rest my head in my arms, which are resting on my knees. "The only reason I really act this way is because of my asshole father…"

"…Yeah, dads can be real pains sometimes…"

"Yeah, well at least your father stuck around, right?"

Another awkward silence follows, but once again it had to be said.

I'm just surprised that it's _Cody_ that I'm revealing this all to. Really, I wanted to tell Trent all this before anyone else, but… I probably never would have. He just seems so… perfect, and if I share any of my flaws with him… I'll just feel less and less worthy of being his girlfriend.

But Cody… he wasn't perfect to me…

And maybe that's why I'm able to confide in him so much.

"I'm sorry, Gwen."

This broke me out of my thoughts. I turned to him, realizing he had stopped crying. He reaches over to wipe one of mine… wait… I was crying? I wipe my face. Sure enough. I didn't even notice it.

"You… got a little eye shadow running, Gwen. Need a tissue?"

"N-n-no… I'm fine…" I say, wiping my face with my hands.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know your dad left you."

I nod. "Yeah… but that was when I was little. Still, it made quite an impact on me, I guess. People would pick on me… and I'd beat 'em up. I'd prank 'em, too. Then people started picking on my brother, and I'd help him fight his battles. I guess being without a father kinda made us…"

"Hey," Cody interrupted, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Gwen. It's none of my business anyway. Besides, we should probably get going."

"…Okay…"

He gets up first and helps me to my feet. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome, Gwen."

…Damn… Why does he have to be so nice to me?

…

Wait… there's something I need to ask him… And if I don't, it may be too late to ask him later. "…Cody?"

He stops again. "Yeah?"

"Why do you like me?"

Silence… again. Man, I hate these cliché awkward silences…

Thankfully, Cody breaks it. "You don't give yourself enough credit, do you?" he said with a smile, putting a hand on my shoulder. "You're a lovely person, Gwen. You're artistic, you're witty, you're… just amazing in every way." I stare at him in shock as he continues his praises. "You're very smart and funny… Girls like you come around… very rarely, that's for sure. Trent's a really lucky guy to have you."

…Wow…

I don't even know what to say, really…

Is that what Cody really thinks of me?

Is that what Trent thinks of me, too?

It takes me a moment, but I'm finally able to choke out these words: "…Thank you…"

His smile widens. "Only stating the truth."

For the first time in… a while, really, I smile a genuine smile. "Cody… if we get out of this… I am so going to make up for everything I put you through. I promise."

"Don't promise anything," he says softly. "I'm just happy being on your good side."

I chuckle a little, despite myself. "Well, trust me, Cody… You're more than just that." Then, I embrace him in a friendly hug. "You're a good friend."

"I guess I'm lucky, too, then, huh?"

I lean my head on his shoulder. "No, _I'm_ the lucky one, Cod—"

A gun cocks.

Slowly, fearfully, we turn our heads toward the sound.

"…T…T…Trent?!"

"Duncan… Duncan was right," he mumbles in a crazed manner, pointing the gun at us. "You… asshole… Cody…"

Cody and I glance at each other, and then stare at my boyfriend in fear. What the fuck is wrong with Trent?!

"Duncan… said you'd steal her… from me…" My eyes widen. Oh, dear God! He thinks Cody and I…

"Trent, please! It's not like that! Cody and I are just frie—" He points the gun at me, and I freeze up.

"Stay out of this, Gwen," he commands before pointing the gun back at Cody, who quickly lets go of me to hold his hands up.

"Please, buddy! I swear, I wasn't—"

"Bullshit, asshole," Trent interrupts. "Now I'm going to give you to the count of nine, and you better get the fuck out of here before I fucking pull this trigger and send your incubus ass straight to hell."

Cody doesn't run. Oh, dear God… he's too scared to run!

"One… two… three…"

Cody!

"…four… five… six…"

Oh, God…

"…seven… eight…"

"CODY, RUN!!" I pull back Trent's arm and try to hold him off. My eyes now lock on Trent's gun.

Trent shoves me down. "I SAID STAY OUT OF… Oh, God! Gwen!" He looks down at me in fear… as he now realizes what he's doing. "…Oh, G-God… wh-what have I done? Gwen, I'm so sorr—"

**BANG**

Time stands still.

I can't speak.

I can't breathe.

I can only watch…

…as Trent's eyes glaze over…

…and his body falls limp to the floor.

Blood begins to pour from the massive wound in his head.

Shaking, quivering, I look up at the culprit.

Cody is shaking as well. He stares at his gun with wide eyes, and drops it.

He looks at me.

My mind is blank.

I don't remember anything from only a few minutes ago.

All I see before me now is a cold-blooded killer.

I scream.

I run.

I hear him call my name, but I don't stop.

I just keep running…

Fearing for my life.

**Not long after, a typewriter is being used.**

**-X-**

**Thus, the cliffhanger from two chapters ago has been resolved… only to lead into some even worse problems.**

**And at the rate we're going, will ANYONE survive in this facility?**

**Only time will tell…**


	14. Chapter 14, Cody

**The typing is over. The progress is saved.**

CODY

11:40 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR THREE" HALLWAY

-X-

"…Cody?"

God… what have I done?

"Cody!"

I… I killed…

"Cody!"

And Gwen… Oh, God…

"CODY!"

I feel something grab my shoulders and shake me, momentarily breaking me from my trance. I shake my head and look up at the person responsible. "…Duncan?"

"What happened?"

…Oh, God…

"CODY!"

"I… I… I'm not sure… Trent… was going… to shoot me, and… I was just… just trying to protect her… and… she ran off… and it's all my fault…" I break down. It's too much for me to take. I fall to my knees, tears flying from my eyes. Why did this have to happen? Why?! Why Trent?! Why _Gwen_?!

"Cody, calm down!"

"…Gwen…"

"Listen, Cody! It's…" I hear him sigh. "It's my fault, not yours."

…H-huh?

"I was… I was only joking around, you know? Just trying to keep in good spirits. But… Trent took it the wrong way. I'm sorry."

…

…WHAT?!

"You BASTARD!" I grab him by the shirt collar, despite the knowledge that he could toss me aside like a piece of paper. "TRENT IS DEAD, AND GWEN IS SOMEWHERE IN THIS FACILITY, ALONE AND VULNERABLE BECAUSE OF YOU!!"

"I know! I'm sorry!"

"You're SORRY?!" If fire could shoot out of my eyes, it would. "SORRY is NOT going to bring Trent back to life! SORRY is NOT going to save Gwen! And SORRY is NOT going to get us out of this mess!" He just looks back at me in fear… which actually surprises me. Since when was Duncan intimidated? And by me, of all people? He can tear through me like a piece of paper.

"Cody, I didn't mean for this to happen! You know I would never put Gwen in danger like that on purpose!"

…

Wait a minute…

He's not intimidated by me; he's afraid of what's going to happen to Gwen.

I let him go. "Well, we need to go after her."

"Yeah," Duncan agreed. "The puzzles in this place will slow her down, and we'll be able to catch up with her in no time." Then, to my surprise, a smile forms on his face. "And if the puzzles are already completed, that means Courtney went down this way!" Then, he sprints down the hall, much to my surprise. Not seeing any other option, I follow him.

-X-

11:44 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR THREE" HALLWAY

-X-

…No frickin' way…

Two doors. Both unlocked.

"She could've gone either way," Duncan says, pointing out the obvious. "We need to split up."

…

Oh, shit…

"Cody?"

"We can't split up."

"…Why not?"

"I left the fucking magnum back there!"

Duncan face-palms. "You're fucking kidding me, right?"

"Sorry, I just… panicked, and…"

He sighs. "Here. Just take this." He hands me the shotgun, then pulls out his trusty pocketknife. "Those fuckers want to go toe-to-toe with me, fine." He goes through the right door. I hear the sounds of feet clanking on metal steps, disappearing downward. I assume the door on the left goes downward too.

I open the door.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Yep. Staircase leading down.

Just how many floors were in this facility?

Cautiously, I take my strides. I can feel the sweat on my forehead. "I-I-It's okay, C-Cody… You'll be fine… Remember, you're looking f-for G-Gwen. You n-need to find Gwen…" But no matter how much I talk to myself, it doesn't seem to work. I'm still scared—very scared. God, if something happened to Gwen… I don't know what I'd do.

I'm at the bottom of the stairway, and I find an archway to my right. I head through it…

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

As it turns out, both staircases lead to the same fucking place.

Duncan rolls his eyes. "Give me that gun," he says coldly, taking the shotgun away from me. "Like anyone can trust _you_ with a shotgun anyway."

…Ex-_squeeze_ me?

I grab the asshole by the arm. "What was that? I didn't quite hear that over the sound of your laughter as you _send Trent down a downward spiral to the point where he wants to kill me_."

"Oh-ho-ho-ho!" Duncan laughs at me. He fucking _laughs_ at me! "You're retarded, you know that? Matching wits with me? I wasn't even going there, and yet you have to make a quip like that. Remember who has the shotgun here, Cody. I'd watch that mouth of yours if I were you."

I growl inwardly, shutting my eyes tight. "I knew I shouldn't have dropped that magnum…"

Time stops, if only for a moment. Things seemed to get very, very chill… and definitely not in the good way.

Duncan turns to me, a surprised look on his face. "…You're serious, aren't you?"

"Well, no fucking shit!" I blurt out, surprising even myself. "In case you've forgotten, Gwen is somewhere in this fucking place ALONE, and we NEED to find her before something worse happens!" …Wait, why am I wasting my time here? Fuck it! Gwen needs help, and standing around doing nothing but complain is going to solve jack shit! I walk down the hall, not even caring that I didn't have a weapon.

"Wait!" Oh, NOW he's doing something useful. Great! It's about fucking time. "Hey, man," he says as he catches up to me, "she's my friend too. You know I want to find her just as much as you do."

I say nothing.

"…Okay, maybe not. I mean, I really do want to find her, but you're fucking dedicated, man. I mean, shit! You're unarmed, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"And yet knowing what could be here, or rather NOT knowing, you still trekked forward. Like a real trooper. I know guys in juvie that aren't even close to being that tough."

…Wow, really?

…

I can't get sidetracked. Keep moving, Cody!

-X-

11:52 A.M.

CAFETERIA

-X-

We stumble upon an old cafeteria further down the hall. We hadn't spoken since Duncan said I was "tough", but I decide to break the silence.

"Oh, thank God! I'm getting hungry."

Duncan chuckles. "Now's not the time to think about food, Cody."

"No, seriously!" I felt a rumble in my stomach. "Oooooooouuuuuuugh…"

"Okay, seriously, not funny, Cody."

"Oooooooouuuuuuugh…" Now I'm just teasing with him.

"Cody, seriously, not cool."

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…**

What the…?

"Dammit, Cody!"

"Th-that last one… wasn't me."

At that, Duncan's eyes widen. "…What?"

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…**

Duncan readies his shotgun. It's not too close, but we can't be too sure.

"I think it came from in there." He points to a door, which, considering the wide window beside it, I'm assuming is the kitchen.

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…**

Oh, yeah… definitely coming from in there.

Alright, Cody… you can do this… Remember, you're tough.

…

"…Duncan, you're the one with the shotgun, you go in first."

"…Alright…"

He opens the door…

…and gasps.

Two zombies appear in the doorway in front of us.

The first I can't recognize… probably an intern.

But the second…

…

I back up slowly, Duncan following suit.

Of course, I don't blame him for being terrified.

The second zombie held a sleek, gray, metal briefcase in its right hand. Its pale skin greatly emphasized the freckles on its nose.

But the most horrifying thing is…

…we know her.

Or, should I say, we _knew_ her.

Duncan shudders as he barely makes out an audible "C…C…C…Court…"

"Courtney…" I finish for him, still terrified.

We continue to back up, but the two zombies before us continue to come closer.

We will run out of room soon.

Duncan, shoot! Please!

Duncan!

DUNCAN!

"I… I… can't…"

"Here, give me the gun," I say, trying to wrestle the shotgun away from him, but he's got a firm grip on it, and I fail. Defeated, I look up at the zombies before us.

Oh, God… We are so dead…

…

…

…

**BANG!**

…Huh?

**BANG!**

Now opening my once clenched-shut eyes, I gasp as I see the two zombies sprawled out on the floor, massive gunshot wounds in their heads.

And somehow, as if a symbol of her greed, Courtney is still gripping the briefcase tight.

I look over at Duncan, who looks just as shocked as, if not more than, I am. Wait… if he didn't shoot them…

I look around the room, and gasp when my eyes fall on…

"Chef Hatchet?!"

"Aye," he greets, holding the shotgun like a soldier would during his march, and he salutes us. "Looks like this mission is over. My condolences, Juvie. She was brave—annoying as hell, but brave.

"It's not over yet," I say. "Things… happened, and Gwen ran off. We have to find her!"

"Okay, calm down, small fry." Chef readies his shotgun again. "We'll find her. Don't worry. She's one of the toughest I've ever seen. It's a shame she's into all that artsy fartsy stuff. She'd make a good soldier."

"Yeah… Well, Duncan, are you ready to—"

"JUVIE, NO!"

What?!

**BANG!**

…

Oh, God…

Please tell me what I think just happened didn't…

Slowly, my eyes drift downward… to a lifeless body next to me, shotgun nearby. Blood pooled from his head, from his massive, fatal, self-inflicted wound.

Duncan… No…

I hear Chef sigh, and I look up to see him shaking his head. "This is why I don't love, Scrawny. It's a weakness. Juvie didn't shoot Whiny because he loved her. And now that Whiny's gone, Juvie couldn't live with himself."

It's my turn to shake my head. "You're wrong, Chef. Infatuation is a weakness. Love is a strength." I look down at the bodies surrounding me. "Unfortunately, it's hard to tell the difference between the two."

"…Perhaps you're right. But let me ask you this: what would you do if Goth girl were dead?"

…

…

…

"Stew on that for a little while, Scrawny. Now come on, we gotta go if we're going to find that girl. The war is not over! Hustle! Hustle!"

Chef's last few statements pumping me up, I grab Duncan's shotgun and follow him out of the cafeteria.

Gwen… I'm coming for you…

I will protect you…

I promise…

**Please switch to Disk Two.**

**-X-**

**Okay, to answer a few questions:**

**First of all, the switching disks thing… like the "YOU ARE DEAD" and typewriter gimmicks, it's just a clever chapter transition, and it's basically saying that… oh… around this point is probably the halfway point of the fic. I'm not entirely sure at this point though.**

**Second, a question you should probably be asking yourself… where's Chris? Why isn't he with Chef? Is he dead? Will we find out? Who knows? …Well, I do, but I'm not telling.**

**But no, I bet that question never crossed your minds, because you were probably too busy thinking "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU KILL OFF COURTNEY AND DUNCAN?!?!?!!? YOU ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!"**

**Well, if this bothered you, then write your own damn story and have them live. That's all I gotta say.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 15, Noah

**Finally, the guy saving our progress gets a chapter! XD**

**-X-**

NOAH

11:40 A.M.

THIRD BASEMENT SAVE ROOM

-X-

"Are you finished yet?"

"Almost…" I finish typing my last sentence. "There. An ode to how much I hate Izzy right now."

"Aww… how sweet?" …Only Izzy would be touched.

"Now come on now!" Leshawna groans. "I found a key, if y'all haven't been payin' attention to a word I've been sayin'." She holds up said key. "I bet it opens one of them doors out there."

I roll my eyes. "Well then check."

"I ain't checkin' alone, smart ass, now get a move on now!"

"Alright, alright!" I get up from the chair and follow her to the door, Izzy in tow.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

"So, which door do you think it is?" Leshawna asks, and I groan at her sudden lack of logic.

"I don't know, maybe that's why we _check_." She doesn't take this very well.

"You want a piece of me, turkey?"

"Just give me the damn key." Reluctantly, she hands it to me, and I start checking the doors. The first door, the one on the left from where we are standing, doesn't open. So I go to the one on our right.

The key fits.

"Ah, so you _were_ right." I cynically comment, earning an "ooooooooooooooh" from Leshawna.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Ah, a study. Quite a beautiful room, really. Bookcases, rocking chairs, coffee tables…

A shame this one had to go to waste. Cobwebs and dirt covering such beautiful reading material. Pity.

I walk over to the bookshelf, as the others search the rest of the room for any clues on how to get through door number three in the hallway. Something tells us that's our ultimate destination.

I look through the books, curious as to why such an evil and dangerous place would have such lovely reading material. Some of these look like they've never been read.

Maybe I should take some home with me.

One book, though, caught my eye.

See, all these books were rather old, from the '70s or '80s or, hell, even the early '90s. But this one…

"_Breaking Dawn_?" I pull it out, examine it… and panic. "Oh, dear God!" I toss it to the floor, and am now supporting myself against the bookshelf, freaking out. "Oh, God… Ew… Ew… I touched it… Ew…"

…Wait…

_Breaking Dawn_ was published in 2008.

…

This was placed here.

By an intern.

I examine the space that the book once occupied.

…

There's a key back here.

I grab it. "Gotcha, you little motherfucker!" I shout triumphantly. "And all it took was a near-traumatizing event."

"Oh, you found the key?" Leshawna asks, and I nod. "Great! Maybe you're not so bad after all, turkey." Grr… "I'm-a kiddin' ya. Now come on. Let's get out of here."

I frown, looking back at the bookshelf. "Do I have to?"

I have to be dragged out of the room.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Alright, door number three, you _better_ be the door we need to go through, or I'm going to be infuriated. I mean, I touched a fucking Twilight book for you.

I slip the key into the keyhole. It fits.

I turn it. It unlocks.

YES! YES! Play those bagpipes, M. Bison, 'cause we've passed this fucking…

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

…test…

…No! No! No! NO!

A fucking T-section! Are you _kidding_ me?!

AUGH!

I massage my forehead. Two choices: either we continue down the hallway, or we take a right down the side hallway.

…Ugh… It looks like I have no choice…

"Leshawna, looks like we'll have to split up. Izzy, follow one of us."

"A'ight, I'll head down the right," Leshawna volunteers, and she leaves the party.

"…Well, Izzy? Who are you with?"

"I'll stick with you."

"…Great…" As you can imagine, I'm not thrilled about this.

-X-

11:53 A.M.

THIRD BASEMENT "T-SECTION" HALLWAY

-X-

This hallway is rather peculiar. No doorways, just a hallway. And it seemed to circle around the area we were in earlier, as we had already taken two left turns along the way.

Though one question remains: I can't help but ponder where Leshawna's path went…

**BANG!**

What the?!

**BANG!**

Izzy and I have stopped in our tracks. The shots were in the distance, but not far.

We continue to stand in silence, until…

"Why did we stop? Izzy wants in on the actiony action!"

"Shut up, Iz—!"

**BANG!**

Another shot? What the hell is going on here?

"Oh, screw this! I'm checking this out!" Izzy runs down the hall, unarmed and stupid.

"UGH!" I groan, and I run after her, readying my gun. "Why didn't I go with Cody and Gwen?"

**Please switch to Disk Two.**

**-X-**

**Technically, still not "Disk Two" yet since this takes place before the… um… "disk changing."**

**Obviously, if you've been paying attention, you know what the shots were about, and have a semi-good idea on where Noah and Izzy are in relation to Cody and Chef Hatchet. Long story short, the cafeteria was the area where all four paths ultimately intertwined, and the kitchen was the holding place for the briefcase. Yeah, doesn't seem like much, but keep in mind Courtney had gone through this whole area (assumedly through hallway three, as there were no known puzzles throughout the hallway), so there probably were some puzzles that Courtney solved before we got to see them. …That is, if you want to believe that. Truth is, I suck at coming up with puzzles.**

**But there's still more to this facility, and Chris probably had planned the groups to pass the kitchen (possibly thinking that it would be "way too easy") and go through more of the facility than what was needed, and there are some extra puzzles in those areas. Or, perhaps the key to the kitchen was hidden somewhere in the later areas of the facility and Courtney had managed to find it in very little time. Either way, there is more facility to explore. And hopefully I can even come up with more puzzles along the way. Hopefully.**

**But if not, we still have the story, which is certainly not over yet. After all, they still have a little over an hour before the lockdown lets up… Plus, there are TWO—count 'em—TWO major bombshells in the plot heading your way, one of which was planned since the beginning, the other having just been planned… about a week ago to make things a little more… interesting… And by the way, the roads leading to both bombshells have already been started, so there's no going back now…**


	16. Chapter 16, Leshawna

**Still not in Disk Two territory.**

**Once again, Leshawna takes the spotlight, and I'll be nice this time; I won't repeat 90 percent of what was shown in the last chapter.**

**-X-**

LESHAWNA

11:50 A.M.

STUDY

-X-

"Oh, you found the key? Great! Maybe you're not so bad after all, turkey."

I hear Noah growl, and I shake my head. Boy needs to lighten up. "I'm-a kiddin' ya. Now come on. Let's get out of here."

"Do I have to?"

I roll my eyes. Noah and his books…

Guess I have no choice but to drag his scrawny little… whatever-race-he-is ass out of the room.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We head to the other side of the hall, where Noah unlocks the door. The whole time I'm wondering to myself… this is way too easy.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

I was right.

As Noah has his mental breakdown in front of me, I consider our options. Go straight? Or go right? Should we split up? Should we stay together?

Noah answers for me, as he even says we should split up. I offer to go down the side hallway.

-X-

11:52 A.M.

UNDEFINED SIDE HALLWAY

-X-

There's an elevator here. And from the looks of things, there are more floors in this facility than I would've imagined otherwise.

I take a chance and enter the elevator.

_(The elevator doors slide open.)_

There's a note near the buttons. It says:

"_It is always calm __**before**__ the storm."_

The fact that "before" is emphasized startles me. Why is that so important that it has to be bolded?

I look at the buttons. 1F, B1, B2, B3...

…B4...

…

Y'all don't think…

Reluctantly, I push the button, and the elevator moves. It doesn't take long though, as I was in the third basement to begin with.

_(The elevator doors slide open.)_

Another hallway. Great.

Well, might as well check it out.

It snakes around, first to the left, then to the right…

…Whoa…

The hallway leads me to a large room with monitors lining the walls. Each screen seems to be linked to the cameras all around the facility.

I look at some of the screens more closely. Some of them have messages on them to replay certain video feeds…

…meaning that someone else was here before…

Not seeing anywhere else to go in this floor, I decide to watch some of the feeds.

I probably shouldn't have…

_**FEED ONE - KITCHEN, THIRD BASEMENT**_

_The door opens. Courtney walks in. "Geez, Chris, could you come up with lamer puzzles?" She starts looking in the refrigerator, the cabinets, and ultimately comes across the stove. She opens in, and cries happily. "The briefcase! I won! I won the million dollars! Hahahahahaha! In your face, Chris! In your… What the hell?"_

"_Uuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…"_

"_No… NO! GET AWAY!! GET AWAY!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"_

_**FEED TWO - TEAM THREE HALLWAY, SECOND BASEMENT**_

"_Well, trust me, Cody… You're more than just that. You're a good friend."_

"_I guess I'm lucky too, then, huh?"_

"_No, _I'm_ the lucky one, Cod--"_

_Chk-chk._

"_T…T…Trent?!"_

"_Duncan… Duncan was right. You… asshole… Cody… Duncan… said you'd steal her… from me."_

"_Trent, please! It's not like that! Cody and I are just frie--"_

"_Stay out of this, Gwen."_

"_Please, buddy! I swear I wasn't--"_

"_Bullshit, asshole. Now, I'm going to give you to the count of nine, and you better get the fuck out of here before I fucking pull this trigger and send your incubus ass straight to hell. One… two… three… four… five… six… seven… eight…"_

"_CODY, RUN!!"_

"_I SAID STAY OUT OF… Oh, God! Gwen! …Oh, G-God… wh-what have I done? Gwen… I'm so sor--"_

_**BANG**_

…

"…_W…Wha…"_

…

"…_Gwen, I…"_

…

"_Gwen! GWEN!"_

_**FEED THREE - LOCKER ROOM, FIRST BASEMENT**_

_Beth and Lindsay scream as they have no choice but to watch the three zombies rip Owen and Tyler apart limb from limb. Tyler is already dead, but Owen is still screaming himself. Blood splatter over the two girls, who scream louder… before the zombies advance on them._

_**FEED FOUR - LABORATORY, FIRST BASEMENT**_

_All this footage shows is Harold's lifeless body sprawled out on the floor of the bright room._

_**FEED FIVE - TEAM THREE'S SECOND ROOM, FIRST FLOOR**_

"_Mmm… Shouldn't we be worried about the million… mmm… dollars, Geoff?"_

"_Aw, you're so much better than a million bucks, babe."_

"_Mmm… that's so sweet… I think…"_

"_Uuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooo"_

"…_Whoa. Bridge, are you okay?"_

"_Wait, that wasn't you?"_

"_Uuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooo"_

"_OH MY GOD!!"_

"_BRIDGE! GET BEHIND ME--YAAAAAAAAGH!!"_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"_

"_GEOFF!!!"_

"_Uuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooo"_

"_NO, WAIT!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"_

…

I vomit. Hard. Even worse than when I ate those cockroaches.

I can't believe… all this… is happening.

Harold… Bridgette… Gwen… and the others…

Why did this have to happen?

…And… And who watched this in the first place?

Who was here?

Suddenly, an arm wraps around me, and I scream just before a rag finds its way to my mouth.

Chloroform, no doubt. I'm already getting woozy…

"You've seen too much…"

Ugh…

**Please switch to Disk Two.**


	17. Chapter 17, Cody

**FINALLY, someone got their lazy ass off the couch and switched the disks.**

**I know Cody just had a chapter not too long ago, but keep in mind that since most of the characters in this adventure are now either dead, missing, or too insane to pick up any special or clever clues, switching off among Leshawna, Noah, and Cody will not be uncommon. Chef won't get a POV though. Why? Well that, my friend, is a secret… but I'm sure the reason why will become clear later on.**

**And don't feel bad, those of you who feel Leshawna, Noah, and Cody are getting way too much attention as it is in the story. They (at least Noah and Cody) have enough going through their minds to keep you interested in their POVs anyway.**

**It's been far too long since I've had a disclaimer, so:**

**Total Drama © Fresh TV**

**Resident Evil (Biohazard) © Capcom**

**-X-**

_How far would you go for a million dollars? Greed is a deadly sin for a reason…_

(Meh, just wanted to throw that in here somewhere)

-X-

DISK TWO

CODY

11:54 A.M.

CAFETERIA HALLWAY

-X-

"Damn. This door's locked."

"Figures. But there's a hallway to the right over here. Should we check it out?"

"Nah, Scrawny. I came from that hall."

"…Huh… Then I guess we go strai-"

Wait…

I hear footsteps…

"Chef, someone's coming!"

"Survivors?"

"Maybe…"

"AI-AI-AI-AI-AI-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

"SCRAWNY, LOOK OUT!!"

OOF!!

"…Oh. It's just Crazy Girl."

"I'm called Kaleidoscope now."

…What?

I look up from my now sprawled out position on the floor. "…Izzy?"

"E-Scope."

"…E-Scope… What are you doing… wait, where's…?"

"Right here."

Noah?

I slowly get up from my lying position, groaning as I do so. Oh, good… Noah's okay… But where's…

"Leshawna left the party," Noah explains. "There was a T-section in our hallway, and we split up."

"Are you sure that was wise?" I can't help but ask. Splitting up didn't do us wonders this entire time we were down here.

"Not really. Now, are we just going to stand here or are we gonna look for Cour… wait… where's Gwen? And Chris?"

Shit… Noah doesn't know about what happened…

Hmm… now that he mentions it… what _did_ happen to Chris?

"Chris and Goth Girl are missing," Chef explains. "But Pretty Boy is the least of my worries. Bastard keeps skipping out on mah paychecks. A grown man need to eat, dammit! Now, Goth Girl, on the other hand, is important to Scrawny here, and if you ask me, she's a damn good soldier, and no good soldier leaves another good soldier behind to die." He cocks his shotgun. "Besides, we're still stuck down here for a little over an hour."

Oh, right… the lockdown…

So, no questions asked, we continue down the hallway (leading from the cafeteria, not the side hallway). We come across four doors on the right-hand side. Conveniently, all but the one on the end are locked.

Which means…

Gwen must've went this way! Yes!

Don't worry, Gwen! I'm coming! I'm keeping my promise!

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We're in what appears to be another hallway. Or perhaps just a really long, L-shaped room, considering the furniture.

There's a photo hanging on the wall with a picture of two men: a blond man with "peach fuzz" and another blond man wearing sunglasses. Both are clad in lab coats.

A piece of paper is hanging from behind it. I take it and read it.

_Dear Umbrella Chemical, Inc._

_It appears that even in Canada I can't get away from you scoundrels. I have just recently learned of your Wawanakwa facility in the Muskoka region of Ontario. But if you have brains in your skulls, you will not locate me and my family. You know who I know. You know my people, and if you even think about coming after us, they will be on you like ketchup on a sandwich!_

_Here's to hoping I never have to deal with you assholes again._

_Barry Burton._

Chef takes the paper from me and reads it over. "Bah, this ain't important." He throws it in a nearby trash can. "Quit sight-seeing, soldier. You think those monsters are sight-seeing when they can be tearing apart pale flesh?"

My jaw falls open. "How _dare_ you?"

Somewhere in the room, Izzy shouts "Obscure reference!"

"Shut up, Izzy!"

"E-SCOPE WILL NOT BE SILENCED!!!"

"Um… guys?" Noah? I turn to him. He's at the door at the end of the room. "It won't budge."

"What?!" I cry, my eyes wide. "But… but… why not?"

"Something's in front of the door," Noah tells me, and my heart skips a beat. "Cody, what happened? If Gwen went this way, and she blocked off the door, something had to have happened."

My mouth still wide open, no words come out of it.

"…Well?"

Noah's being impatient. And Gwen's time may be running out.

I have to tell them…

"Something… happened. Something bad," I reluctantly say, not sure how to word it to the others in my party.

"…What happened?" Noah asks, now slightly more worried than annoyed.

"…Trent… thought I was stealing her from him… He tried to kill me, but Gwen stopped him, and he pointed the gun at her… I lost all train of thought. I had to… t-to…"

"Oh…" I assume Noah now understands, and I don't need to explain any further.

Good. I don't want to.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn. "Scrawny, what you did was no different than what a soldier is supposed to do. Kill to protect. Kill or be killed. No matter what way you look at it, it's all the same. And in time your friend will understand that what you did was for the best."

"…Then how come it doesn't feel like it?"

"Sometimes, shit happens. That's all there is to it." He looks around the room. "There has to be some other way into that room, though. Search the area. See if you can find any clues or anything suspicious."

We search for a good three minutes (the room is rather large), before Noah calls us over. He is holding a key in his hand. He claims he found it in a dresser drawer.

We exit the room, hoping the key is for one of the other three doors in this hallway, and hoping that it will lead to Gwen.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

We try the key on the closest door. Nothing.

But the second door…

"It fits," Noah states, and we enter.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

It's just a bedroom (well, a barracks, really)

Damn.

Looks like a dead end…

"Hey, check this out."

Noah's voice echoes in my head. I turn to him; he holds up a large sheet of paper. "It's a map to the entire facility."

Curious, I take it from him and give it a good look. Wow… This place really _is_ big.

As I skim through the different areas on the map, I hear a dresser drawer open, followed by Izzy's wild cackling. "I found a key! I found a key!"

My eyes widen as I turn away from the map. Noah gladly takes it from me.

One step closer to finding Gwen…

Yes!

It's almost over…

-X-

12:07 P.M.

BEDROOM 2

-X-

The key had led us to another bedroom: the locked door in between.

I figured it would be too good to be true.

But enough about that. Our only hope is to find the key to that fourth room.

We search the bedroom, throwing blankets and covers around like nobody's business, opening drawers and snooping closets and under the beds.

This time, it's my turn to find the key.

And man, do I feel like a million bucks.

"The key!" I shout in a giddy tone, scaring the hell out of Noah. "I got the key!"

"Alright, Maggots!" Chef yells in a military-officer-like tone. "Let's get a move on; we don' got all day! MOVE! MOVE!"

He doesn't have to tell me twice. I'm already out the door.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

As I had hoped, the door leads to the final room in this hallway.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

…What the hell?

The floor is checkered black and white. There are giant chess pieces on the floor: a black pawn, a white queen, and a white king.

A part of me is hoping it's just for decoration…

But the logical part of me knows it's not…

**Somewhere in the facility, someone is using a typewriter…**

**-X-**

**WHOA! Wait, you mean to tell me that Noah's NOT saving our progress this time?**

**And does this mean that anyone that continues to overanalyze this gimmick will shit their pants?**

**YES! YES IT DOES!**

…**Okay, so the real reason I ended it here was because the chapter was getting a little long. So sue me! At least it ended in a relatively good spot, right?**

…_**Right?**_


	18. Chapter 18, Noah

**Total Drama is owned by Fresh TV, Resident Evil is owned by Capcom.**

**-X-**

NOAH

12:07 P.M.

BEDROOM 2

-X-

We're in another bedroom. Great. Who'd have thought we'd end up on yet another wild goose chase in this damn place?

Obviously sarcasm.

I groan, upset about the whole situation. Okay, sure, I've never been on good terms with Gwen; hell, I'm doing this for someone else, not for her.

Yeah, I admit it. I'm not searching for Gwen because I care about her or some such shit, no. I'm doing it for Cody, the nervous wreck beside me, hell-bent on finding the love of his life before _they_ find her.

UGH! Cody, what the hell do you see in her?! All you ever did as far as I've known you was shower her with your love and care, albeit in an unorthodox manner, and she just crumpled you up and threw you aside like one of her failed sketches.

Why can't you see that she's not good for you? That maybe... that maybe someone else would be better?

...Ah, who the fuck am I kidding?

Yeah, I admit it. Damn it. What, the calendar wasn't enough proof for you? Or my mannerisms? Or the way I look at him and stand up for him, yet deny any feelings for him whatsoever?

I admit it. I love Cody! YOU HAPPY?!

...Ugh...

No, that's not breaking the fourth wall--I needed to convince myself that I love him. But I know it's not meant to be. I mean, hell, he's always pining over the ladies, mostly Gwen, flirting with them, asking for a night on the town or a night in the bedroom (I'm sure that last one was a joke; Cody's too innocent for something like that). Why would he want to switch teams for someone like me? The asshole of the group? Especially when he has another asshole to swoon over that's actually FEMALE?

...Sigh...

The facility must be getting to me, and I'm afraid of what may result. Over half of our fellow campers is presumed dead--we don't know for sure, but the fact that we haven't seen them since the contest began isn't helping any theory against it. Hell, for all we know, Gwen is dead, Chris is dead, all of Team One friggin' gone, Harold, Leshawna, the ones that stayed behind, they're probably all dead.

We could be the only ones left...

"The key! I got the key!" His voice is all giddy and happy. It scares the shit out of me... at first. But after a few seconds, I smile. Only he could sound so ridiculously dumb, and still put me in a good mood. Maybe it's because I know he's actually smart under all that stupid. Yeah, let's just say that.

Like a drill sergeant, Chef orders us out of the room, and Cody practically runs at the speed of light through the door before we even have a chance to move.

I roll my eyes. Blinded by love. I just know it.

-X-

12:11 A.M.

CHESS ROOM

-X-

The second we walk into the room, I groan. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a whiz at Chess, but this looked as if we'd need someone with both brains AND brawns to figure this out.

Let's see if I can work together with Chef.

When I first check out this puzzle, it first appears as though you had to move the pawn in a way that would result in Check, but that would be absurd, considering the fact that the king could kill the pawn during the next turn. Then, I take note of the queen, which is kitty-corner to the pawn, and in retrospect could also take the pawn out if you go for the Check. Additionally, where you would have to move forward one space to get in the position of the inevitably unsuccessful Check, you could instead take out the queen, which would keep you out of range of the king, which is in the other direction. Considering the possible mechanics of this room, if the goal is in fact to take out the king, I conclude that taking out the queen will cause a mechanism to move the king to the right, making it kitty-corner with the pawn. Then the pawn could take out the king.

Well, it was worth a shot.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do," I tell the group. "Chef, push that pawn toward the queen."

"...Um... A'ight." He pushes the black pawn toward the white queen, until the two giant Chess pieces collide. He begins to strain, having double the weight to push. Cody and I help out, as Izzy stays behind, fascinated at the black-and-white checkered design on the floor.

"Oooooooooh... It's like Sonic!"

"Shut up, Izzy!"

"E-SCOPE WILL NOT BE--"

"SHUT UP, IZZY!!"

"Alright, fine!"

We finally manage to push the white queen out of its square, and, just as I had predicted, the white king moved one space to the right, where the black pawn could take it out.

"Checkmate," I say in a low tone, like a hero in an action movie, before telling the others to push the black pawn toward the white king.

We finally succeed in beating the white king, which was pushed onto a switch. The door on the other side of the room unlatches.

"YES!" Cody cheers, and I roll my eyes again. Oh, brother...

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

The first thing I do when we enter the room is look at the door on the left side. At least half of the furniture in the room is piled up against the door. Gwen wasn't just scared; she was mortified!

Cody takes one look at the chairs and tables stacked up against the door and breaks down. "Oh, God!" he cries, and I feel a deep pit in my chest. "Gwen..."

"Get a hold of yourself, Maggot!" Chef shouts, shaking Cody's shoulders violently. "Hope is not lost! Let's get movin'! The sooner we find creepy girl, the sooner we can get out of this hellhole!"

"...Well, not really," I say matter-of-factly. "We've still got about an hour left before the lockdown ends."

"WAS I TALKIN' TO YOU, MEAT-FACE?!" Chef shouts at me. ...Wait, "Meat-Face"?

"Ch-Chef is right, N-Noah," Cody speaks up, and I can tell from the tone of his voice that Chef scared the shit out of him. "We n-need to find Gwen bef-f-fore it's t-too late."

Ugh... Alright, fine! ...No, I didn't say that. My response was more of a less emotional "Whatever."

"There's a staircase here," Izzy exclaims, pointing to a set of stairs at the side of the room. Honestly, I didn't even notice them at all until she said something. "Anyone want to race? First one to hit the bottom wins!" She began tumbling down the stairs purposefully.

"...I'll pass..."

_(Tumble, tumble, trip and fall; Izzy won this free-for-all.)_

We're in a rather small room. There's a door in front of us, but it's locked. Gwen had to have gone in another direction. Sure enough, there's a door behind the staircase, and we take it.

-X-

12:30 A.M.

B4 SAVE ROOM

-X-

I skipped ahead a few minutes because mentioning the rooms we went through was rather unneeded. They were all storage hallways, no encounters of vile creatures or zombies occurred in them, and we're in the same room that we would've been in right away if that door from earlier was unlocked. Yep, we nearly went in a circle. Perhaps more of a "C", really.

There's a typewriter here, but I try to refrain from ranting. Cody wouldn't allow it.

Wait... why is HE stopping at the typewriter?

He doesn't type, no, but something seems to allure his interest. A piece of paper next to the typewriter... it looks... brand new! But... how...

...Wait...

No... it can't be...

I watch Cody's expression as he reads it. I expected him to be happy and giddy about the possibility of finding Gwen. But instead... he's horrified and grim.

I gulp. Oh God... What happened? He sets the paper down and sits down on the chair behind the typewriter.

He begins to break down.

"Cody--" I try to comfort him, he pushes me away. Oh, God... What the hell did he read?

I picked up the paper, preparing for the worst.

I couldn't prepare myself enough for this, though.

_Cody,_

_If you're reading this, it means I'm right about you. At least now._

_I was bitten, Cody. A zombie had bitten me in the arm. But he didn't finish the job. I got the upper hand and kicked his head off. He's in the hallway ahead--but you shouldn't have to worry about him now._

_I came back here, and realizing my fate is now sealed, I had begun to think. About Trent. About Duncan. About... ugh... Chris._

_About you._

_And when I did, when I gave it some thought, I realized that all you were doing was protecting me. You didn't mean to kill Trent, you just wanted me to be safe. I guess this goddamn facility just got the better of both of us, huh? And now I'm paying for it. I shouldn't have run, but it's too late now._

_There was a document next to this typewriter that made me curious, and I read it. I tore it up soon after, in rage, but I figured you should know about it._

_The T-virus, as the paper called it, is much more advanced here. Apparently, most strains of this zombie virus take days to take effect. These guys wanted to rush it. They apparently wanted to be able to create zombie armies for themselves at will, so they sped up the process. This strain can turn a person into a zombie within the hour!_

_But I'm sure this is nowhere near your greatest concern. I'm sorry, Cody. Really. You've been a great friend, one I sure am lucky to have, and you've proven it just by being here to read this. And if it wasn't for my stupid breakdown, we probably could've both made it out of here alive, and continued to be friends for years._

_Goodbye, Cody. I love you. Like a brother, but I love you nonetheless. Please... Don't look for me anymore. Save yourself. Get out of here. It's too late for me._

_And Chris, if you're reading this, go suck a cock, you motherfucking dickweed._

_With love,_

_Gwen._

...

I put the paper down, sighing. Cody, blindly, gets up and runs out of the room, down the hallway Gwen mentioned in the letter. I sigh again, and sit where Cody had been. I begin to type.

_**"Why, forces that be? Why, of all people, do you torture such a loving person so?"**_


	19. Chapter 19, Gwen

**Let's go back about an hour and see what we have missed this whole time.**

**-X-**

GWEN

11:37 A.M.

SECOND BASEMENT "DOOR THREE" HALLWAY

-X-

Oh, God...

Oh, God...

Oh, God...

D-Don't look back, Gwen. Don't look back!

...

Fuck! Where do I go now?

...

Left. Okay.

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Keep going, Gwen, keep--AH! ...Agh, almost fell down the steps...

Oh, G-God, he could be right behind me...

Oh, man... I don't wanna die, I don't wanna d-die...

...This way, this way.

...Shit! Now where?

No time! Just keep run--

OOF!

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

Ow... What hit me?

I look up from my fallen form.

...Courtney?

"You are NOT getting MY million dollars, Gwen!"

...

She walks away. As I get up and hold my sore head, I look around, my brain starting to function a little more.

I hear a door open. "Geez, Chris, could you come up..." The door closes, and I hear no more... until...

"NO! GET AWAY!! GET AWAY!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

...Oh, God...

Could it be... _him_?

My mind hazes.

I run again.

He's still after me.

He's still after me.

Oh, God...

I run to the end of the hall. Fuck that side hallway and door across from it. They were too close to where I came in--he might be coming from those areas. He's crafty. He's smarter than he looks. And he wants blood...

...Oh, God, keep running Gwen, keep running...

Four doors, and nothing else. Oh, man... please open... Damn! Locked! ...Damn! Locked! Oh, God... Damn! Oh, God! ...Oh, thank God! This one's open!

_(The door opens slowly, creaking softly.)_

Oh, man, there's gotta be a way out of this... Please, God, let there be a way out of this!

There's a door at the end of this "L-shaped" room. I take it.

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

...Wait...

If this is the only way I could go...

If he follows me...

Oh, God...

Panicking, I look around the room, and notice a few tables and chairs. Quickly thinking and acting, I prop some of the furniture against the door, hoping he wouldn't be able to get through. I spy another door in the room, and I try to open it. It's locked. Good... he can't come through there anyway; that's probably the room I couldn't get into before...

I notice a staircase on the side of the room. Hmm... What if he does find a way here? I probably should keep going...

_(Down the stairs I go. Where I end up, no one knows.)_

I reach the bottom of the stairs, and take a deep breath. Fuck... I need to rest... And he won't be able to get this far for a while yet. I hear no movement upstairs; no doors opening, no furniture being pushed. I'm safe for a little while anyway...

I take a breather for about a minute, my mind still cloudy, but at least I am able to make some sense of the situation. Though I'm not sure of the reasons why Cody did what he did, the look on his face... He seemed so... scared. He dropped the gun in fear. Would a cold-blooded killer really show remorse like that?

But then why did he do it? Why did he kill Trent? After all the things I confided in him... he decides to kill my boyfriend?! It doesn't make any sense!

Damn you, karma, if this is about all those pranks my brother and I di--Oh, God, my brother... My mom... God, I may never see them again!

Oh, man...

My mind hazes a little more as I begin to panic. I run to the door across from me. Locked. SHIT! Okay... There's another door over here...

_(The door opens and shuts quickly.)_

I just keep running. Luckily, every door I made it to in this combination of hallways was unlocked, and ultimately I ended up in a room I assumed was next to the room I had entered this floor in. The door was locked, but there was a key inside the keyhole. I shook my head. I'm not that stupid. If I unlock it, I'm as good as...

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...**

...dead...

I turn around slowly, eyes wide open. Another intern, this one more deformed than some of the rest. One of his eyes had fallen out; that particular optic nerve must've decayed rather quickly. Or it plucked it out itself... which is highly possible considering it was also missing one of its arms. Perhaps it was hungry and had nothing to feast on.

But now he does...

Scared, I fumble for my gun. ...Shit! Where's my gun!

...Oh, don't tell me I fucking dropped it!

Shit! SHIT!

I run down the hallway, noticing a room to the left and an area on the right at the end of the hall. Without thinking, I take it.

...Fuck.

Nothing.

Though I do spy a trap door on the floor. Maybe someone is supposed to use a fire hook or something and--

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...**

Oh, fuck!

...Wait...

I took down a psycho killer once, maybe I...

WHOA!

**CHOMP!**

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

I shove him away. GEEZ, he was fast! Without a second to spare, I kick him several times in the face, the last kick sending his head flying off his body. The body fell to the floor, blood pooling from the hole on top of its neck.

...

FUCK!

I seethe, eyes clenching shut before realization hit me like a shot.

I'm dead.

I'm fucking dead.

...No...

Mom...

Baby brother...

I love you so fucking much...

Trent...

I'll be with you soon...

Duncan...

Carry on. Courtney and I may be gone, but... you can handle it. I know you can.

...Chris...

Fuck you.

...Cod...Cody...

...

It's as if a veil was lifted. It is at this moment that I realize... what I should've realized right away.

Cody listened to me. And he showed he cared for me.

Trent was going to kill him. I intervened and he turned on me.

It probably... it probably looked like Trent was going to kill me...

Cody... was trying to save me.

...

Oh, God, what have I done?

...

And... and he can't get to me. I can't tell him I forgive him...

...Or... maybe I can...

I walk back toward that one room. I could've sworn I saw...

A typewriter.

I sit on the chair, spying a piece of paper next to the typewriter. Curious, I read it... and rip it up afterward. Those assholes... if it wasn't for them, none of this would've happened in the first place!

Then, I take a clean sheet of paper and put it in place. Still in pain from the bite, it takes me a little over two minutes to type my apology to Cody. I'm not sure if he'll ever get to read it, but if he does... at least he'll know how I feel.

But honestly, what I could possibly write, couldn't scratch the surface.

Cody... you have no idea how much I appreciate the way you feel about me. Especially now. If you read this, then that means I'm right. You really are the friend I think you are. And you really were the right person for me to confide in. I just wish I would've known that sooner...

May this be my last goodbye.

I finish typing, content with my last words to the world, and especially to Cody. Curiosity gets the best of me again, as I figure... why the hell not? I'm gonna die anyway, I might as well check out that room on the left...

I enter the hallway again and enter that room.

It's a beautiful balcony of a theatre.

How fitting. I die in a room dedicated to the arts.

I walk toward the edge of the balcony, admiring the molding on the rail. The design is so amazingly crafted...

Then, near the middle of the rail, I spot a cross-like shape with concave edges protruding out...

Upon closer inspection, I spy a similar cross in the same spot, though tilted to fill in the blanks, indented into the wood.

I no longer admire this railing. That symbol... the Umbrella symbol... is now a symbol of everything I hate right now...

I look over the side of the balcony. The Umbrella symbol is also painted on the stage, but other than that it looks like an ordinary fancy theatre. Rows of chairs are facing the stage, and I can imagine people sitting in them, watching some sort of play. Perhaps Shakespeare. Pfft! Like these people had such culture...

...

...It looks tempting though...

I gasp at my own thoughts. I was thinking about jumping. I'm already going to die, why do I need to do it myself?

...

Wait...

If I stay up here, and Cody reads the letter...

I'll still be up here...

...I can't put Cody in that kind of danger.

After all...

I know what happens once you've been bitten...

I look at the bite on my arm and gulp.

There's no going back...

I take a deep breath...

And I plummet.

...

...

...

THUD!

...Ow...

...Well, at least I'm not up there, where he would be.

And I can't move my legs, so... hopefully it'll stay that way when I become a zombie.

I no longer fear death. It's inevitable now.

But...

But as I lay here, I realize something...

I begin to fear something else.

What if Cody doesn't heed my warning?

What if... what if he still looks for me?

...Oh, fuck... I know I told him not to, but...

How do you tell someone who loves you to forget about you, and then expect them to just do it?

It's never worked for me before, and it probably won't now.

Cody.

Please.

Don't let me die in vain.

Save yourself.

Live to tell the tale.

Don't be a hero...

Cody...

Forget me...

Please...

Ugh...

Unnnnnnnh....

**YOU ARE DEAD.**

**-X-**

**For those of you who could stand Resident Evil: Apocalypse, did you appreciate the reference? (The reason I'm pointing it out is because Izzy wasn't there to shout "Obscure reference!")**

**So yes, Gwen is gone, unfortunately. Which brings us to Bombshell One. Well, part of it, anyway. There's still more to that bombshell. And what about the second one? Well... that one's still not quite here yet, but you'll know it when we get there. And who knows? You probably already know what the second one is. Hell, you probably know what BOTH of them are, if either a) I talk to you regularly, or b) you are a pretty good guesser and have noticed some moments of possible foreshadowing.**


	20. Chapter 20, Cody

**If you hated me before, you'll probably hate me even more by the end of this chapter.**

**You know the drill. Total Drama is owned by Fresh TV, and Resident Evil (Biohazard) is owned by Capcom.**

**-X-**

CODY

12: 45 P.M.

BALCONY

-X-

"Cody, get back here!"

I refuse to listen to Noah. He's not in control. I am.

"Cody, don't jump!"

I had to have been standing here for quite some time, looking over the edge of this balcony, comparing the theatre before me to the lovely goth girl I had grown accustomed to. The combination of art and beauty, the rows of chairs all looking on to center stage. I imagine an audience in those seats, as they give all of their attention on one person giving a sweet monologue... just like how I gave Gwen all of my attention.

Do I not want to admit it? Do I want to believe that the letter was false? That it's all some sick joke on Gwen's part, and that she's okay?

Do I need to answer?

Noah still doesn't give up. I don't understand why he won't let me jump.

"Scrawny!" Chef's voice rings in my head. "Remember what happened to the punk?"

...

...He's right.

"Listen to us, Cody: this is NOT the way!" Noah shouts. "Get your fucking ass away from the ledge!"

I still don't move for quite some time. My thoughts are filled with terror... and surprisingly... hope...?

"Hey, Chef?"

I don't turn around. The silence makes me assume I have their attention.

"Is there a cure?"

"Um... I'm not sure..."

I think for a moment before asking my next question. "Do you think Chris might know?"

"Chris is probably dead, foo'."

"No, see, I highly doubt that." I turn around and walk away from the balcony. "Chris would do anything to save his hide--even put you in the line of fire. If you ask me, you'd be dead long before he would be."

"Whatcha gettin' at, Scrawny?"

"I think Chris is trying to find evidence of a cure," I explain. "His narcissism would make him want to stray away and find a cure for himself, just in case he gets bitten and there's only enough antidote for one person."

"He still could've gotten bitten along the way."

"True, but what are the odds? This place isn't very overrun by zombies, you know. Besides, why else would he let you go?"

"How did you know he let me go?"

"Because you just told me, Chef."

"OOH! He got you good, Chefy-Boy," Izzy cackles.

"Oh, alright!" Chef rose his hands into the air. "I admit it, Chris wanted us to go our separate ways, but he didn't tell me why, a'ight?"

"...Fair enough," I say with a nod, and I walk past them out into the hallway. "I say we look for Gwen one last time. If she's still alive, we can take her to Chris right away."

"And if she's dead?" Noah, Noah, Noah... always the skeptic.

"If she's dead, then we just go. Come on, the lockdown's not over yet. How about one last search party?"

Chef rolls his eyes. "A'ight. But if we don't make it out of here, you're dead, you understand?"

"That's okay. We'll all be," I simply remind him, making my way to the far room. "There's got to be a way down into that theatre. I have no doubt in my mind that Gwen would've been attracted by it." Hmm... no doors... I was expecting a staircase of some... AH! What do we have here? A trap door?

"Yo, Chef, you got a crowbar?"

"No."

"Well, you got anything to--"

"Ooh! Let me do it!" Izzy shouts as she attempts, and somehow succeeds, to pry open the trap door with her bare hands. "Ta-da!"

"Thanks," I say as I spy a ladder in the open doorway. "Don't worry, Gwen. We're coming."

"Cody..." Noah starts up again, "she said to let it go."

I'm still not listening to him. I take the ladder down to the next floor.

_(Clink, clank, clink, clank, down the ladder we go...)_

We're in a typical backstage area, like you'd find at any theatre. On one side of the room, there's a door marked "Storage." It's locked. So we turn to the other direction--a hallway, which I'm assuming from the direction it goes that it leads to the stage.

Of course, I decide to press my luck in my hopes of finding Gwen.

-X-

1:05 P.M.

THEATRE

-X-

The room is probably even more beautiful from below. The large chandelier hanging from the ceiling feels even more unreachable than it did when I was on the balcony.

We search the theatre. Gwen had to be here--where else could she have gone?

Well, she's not here...

...but I spy another hallway...

"Scrawny, I wouldn't go that way if I was you," I hear Chef say. Now I'm curious. Exactly what was up with Chef?

"Cody, let's just go. The lockdown's got to be over soon," Noah says. Now, at least Noah's words I understand. He just wants to leave--to live. But Chef almost seemed like he didn't want me to go down that hallway for some reason...

"Aw, you two are no fun!" Izzy cries. "I wanna check out the hallway!"

"NO!!" Chef shouts, and Izzy doubles back.

"O-o-okay." Alright, now I'm REALLY curious. Izzy's never intimidated by Chef--he was never really defensive enough to BE intimidating to someone like Izzy. What's going on here?

"We are going! Now!" Chef commands, and the rest of the group, as if zombies themselves, agreed with the former military officer.

But I'm not going to fall for it.

"Go if you want, but I'm staying."

"Scrawny, you know what happened to Duncan. You were there!"

"Yes I was... but this is different..."

"It's a suicide mission, Scrawny, and you know it!"

"Cody, please..." Noah... Noah never pleads... "Come with us."

...This facility...

...It's gotten to them too...

That HAS to be what's going on here...

Well I'm not letting that happen to me.

"I'm staying," I say as sternly as possible.

Noah sighs, and walks up to me. To my surprise, he puts a hand on my shoulder. I hear Izzy catcalling and wolf-whistling in the back. "Cody... it's too late. She's gone."

"We can still save her," I try to reason, but he continues to be stubborn.

"Cody. It's over. Besides, Gwen's not worth all this trouble."

My eyes widen in shock. How... how could he...?

...GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrAH!!!

"LET GO OF ME!" I forcibly tear his hand away from my shoulder. "How DARE you?"

"Obscure ref--"

"IZZY, SHUT UP!!" I return my attention to Noah. "How DARE you interfere wi--"

"You're just making this way too easy, Co--"

"IZZY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP!!" I take a deep breath. "Noah..." I try to word it as carefully as I can. "How can you say that? She's--"

"Dead."

"I can't accept that," I say, shaking my head. "I just can't."

"Oh, you should've totally said 'UNACCEPT--'"

"IZZY!!" I take another deep breath. "Noah, do you have any idea how much Gwen means to me?"

Noah glares at me, to the point that I'm actually horrified. "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you are." His breathing becomes heavy. "Cody, do YOU have any idea how much YOU mean to ME?!"

...Whoa, what?!

An awkward silence follows... and Izzy breaks it with another catcall.

"...Dude..."

"Yeah, I admit it!" He grabs me with both hands, and my eyes widen in shock. What the fuck?! "I love you, Cody! Don't you get it?! You're the yin to my yang; the counterbalance to my cynical lifestyle!" Without warning, he plants a kiss on my lips, and I struggle to break away. He doesn't let me.

"Mmmo-mmoah, met moff...MET--" he pulls away, "--OFF!" I continue to struggle. What the fuck is going on here?

"Cody, let it go!" he yells at me. "Why can't you see she never loved you? Why do you keep going after someone who doesn't feel the same for you?"

At that, I stop struggling. Gee, this sure is a hypocritical statement, ain't it? "I don't know, Noah. Why DO you go after someone who doesn't feel the same for you?"

Noah begins to shake. I can't tell if it's because he realizes his hypocrisy, or if it's because he's completely lost it. "H...How... How can you possibly compare this situation with yours?"

"Because it's the same damn thing!" I shout. "The exact same damn thing!"

"No it's not!" Noah argues, and just then a veil is pulled over my head...

I smile at the bastard. "Y-You're right, Noah. It's not the same thing."

Noah smiles smugly. The nerve of that motherfu--

"I gave Gwen up, asshole."

His smile drops. Good. Let him feel that shit.

"I handed her over to Trent because I knew I couldn't have her. I still loved her, Noah. I loved her with all my heart. But she didn't love me. So you're right. It's not the same thing, because as far as I'm concerned, my love for her... is REAL. Unconditional love is the only real love there is, Noah. And if you can't let me go, you don't really love me."

He doesn't respond. He just stands there for a few seconds, blinking a few times, no doubt thinking about what I had said. Then his expression changes--to a much angrier one--and he turns around to leave. "Alright, fine! Get yourself killed, Cody! See if I care!" He heads backstage, Izzy in tow.

I'm about to go down the other hallway, but I stop when I hear a gun cock.

What the fuck?!

"Step away from the hallway, Scrawny."

...No...

I turn around. Chef has his shotgun pointed right at me. "Ch-Chef, what are you--?"

"I can't let you go down that hallway."

"I-I-I have no ch-choice, Chef," I respond, stuttering from fear.

"Let me rephrase that. I WON'T let you go down that hallway, Scrawny..."

"Ch-Chef..." I gulp, my arms shaking as I lift my own shotgun up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he says, taking aim. "Drop the shotgun, little man."

Reluctantly, I oblige, dropping my only line of defense against this large, intimidating figure. I back up... toward the hallway, hoping Chef wouldn't notice that was my plan.

He did...

"Back up one more step, and I fire."

"What is your deal?!" I shout, scaring even myself. "What's back there that you don't want me to see?"

"Porn..."

I give him a weird look.

"...Nah, I kid. But you still ain't goin' back th--"

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...**

Oh, God...

There's a zombie... _here?_

"Oh, shit!" Chef curses, circling around. "Where did that come from?" He continues to circle around crazily, aiming at random areas, hoping to spot the monster before it spots him. Not having such luck, he decides to run back to the backstage area, leaving alone in the theatre.

Well, not quite alone...

**Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**

For the first time, I realize the voice is feminine. But it's too weak... and too faint...

I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, or who was even groaning.

I heard the horrid groan again, and this time, I realize something about it. It sounds very, horrifyingly familiar. I know that voice...

...Oh, God, no...

I raise the shotgun again and cock it. I don't want to do it, if this new friend of mine is who I think it is... but I may have to.

I look down the hallway I had wanted to explore earlier. The sound... it's coming from there...

Against my better judgment, I enter the hallway. I just want to make sure... that it's her...

I find my answer at the very end of the hall.

In front of what appears to be an elevator was the abomination that made those guttural noises. The shadows made it impossible to really make it out, but I could see that it was scratching at the elevator door--I assume the elevator was used recently.

Wait... this elevator...

Was that what Chef was hiding?

Again against my better judgment, I step closer, shotgun ready to blast this fucker's head off. But the closer I got to it, the clearer it became.

Then... I noticed the blue streaks...

...No...

NO!

It... she notices me. It--her--it... it's coming... she's coming toward me...

I remember Duncan, what happened to him. I can't let that happen to me.

"Come on, Cody, you can do this..." I aim the shotgun up at her... it... her... UGH!

"You can do this..." It's coming... she's coming closer... She... it... she... I can't... Ugh...

"Come on... You can do this... One bullet to the brain, one bullet..."

_Goodbye, Cody. I love you. Like a brother, but I love you nonetheless._

...I can't do it...

I CAN'T DO IT!!

I turn and run as fast as I can, dropping the shotgun in the process... D-Duncan... what happened to him... I was right... Chef was right... it's the same exact thing, the same exact scenario...

...No...

I stop, taking another moment to think about it. It... no, she... was far enough away. Yes, Duncan froze up because he loved her, but the fact that he shot himself right after she was already gone... it was a "I can't live without you" moment. He couldn't give her up. That's what made it infatuation. He didn't willingly kill himself--he had no will left.

I still have will.

That's the difference between me and Duncan. That's what makes this love.

I still have will.

I still have the power to decide whether or not I want to live or die.

Can I live without Gwen? Yes.

But I'd much rather die with her.

I slowly turn to the monster--no, not a monster. It wasn't a monster at all. It was Gwen. It was always Gwen.

Maybe this is stupid. Maybe the facility is getting to me after all.

Maybe it's already killed me.

But no matter what, as long as I'm with her, I don't care.

So... this is it...

No going back now...

"Gwen..." I say, slowly holding my arms out. "I love you..."

Twice today I got to hug Gwen. A privilege I never even knew existed.

But this second time...

It will be the last.

Make it last...

I feel her nose brush against my neck...

Oh, if only under different circum--

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTT!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

...

No...

Going...

Back...

Now...

...

Gwen...

I...

Love...

Y...

Uhhhhh...

**YOU ARE DEAD**

**-X-**

**And there goes Bombshell One. If I over-hyped it, I apologize.**

**Bombshell Two is already in the works. Does it tie in with Chef and the mysterious elevator?**

**...Maybe...**


	21. Chapter 21, Noah

NOAH

1:13 P.M.

FOURTH BASEMENT SAVE ROOM

-X-

"AUGH!!!" I shout in anger as I punch the wall, ultimately hurting my hand. "Who the hell does that motherfucker think he is?!"

"You tell 'im!" Izzy shouts back, and I turn to glare at her.

"Don't even talk to me, Izzy!" My hands grasp at my forehead; I can't get the past few minutes out of my mind. Cody... what right? What right does he have to say that shit? What the hell did Gwen ever do for him? I helped him out when he was down. Where was Gwen when he needed comfort? NOWHERE! Dammit, she even CAUSED his discomfort!

"Why does he love her so much?!" I slam my head back against the wall, my anger rising even more and more. "She was never there for him! I WAS!!" I storm over to the desk and begin knocking all sorts of shit unto the floor, including the typewriter, which broke. Well, I guess I can't rant this off.

"EEEEEEE!!! This looks like fun!" Izzy shoves the desk forward, sending it "face first" to the floor.

Still infuriated, I look through the mass of papers now littering the floor. I finally find one I'm looking for: Gwen's last words to the world. "Now no one's going to know your last words, you jezebel..." I tear the letter up into tiny pieces and throw it back to the pile of papers on the floor. I even stomp on the remains a few times.

"YO!"

"What the...?"

Chef comes in from the hallway. "We need to get the hell out of here!"

"What's going on?"

"I heard one of those maggots... I couldn't pinpoint it though. It ain't Handsome over there, though, that's for sure," he says, gesturing toward the headless zombie Gwen had mentioned in the letter.

...Wait...

...

Oh, no...

Oh, no!

Realization hits me like a shot. Cody... Cody's in danger!

I threw Cody into the lions' den!

I basically told him to DIE!

I run to the balcony area of the theatre in fear. Scanning the area, I realize... he's not there. Where is... oh, crap! The hallway!

Without thinking, I head back to the room with the trap door and climb down the ladder, Chef shouting protests as I did so. "It ain't worth it, boy! We gotta get outta here! The lockdown's gotta be over by now!"

I don't listen. I've got a love to save.

For the first time, I understand it...

I understand why Duncan was so persuasive in sending us after Courtney.

I understand why Cody wanted to save Gwen so badly.

I understand... because it's happening to me.

Cody... I'm coming...

-X-

THEATRE

1:23 P.M.

-X-

I'm coming, Cody! Hold on, I'm almost--

"SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTT!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" I fall to my knees. I can't believe what I had just witnessed...

Cody... why?

It takes a few seconds, but logic kicks in. It doesn't hurt that the abomination had just finished feasting on my poor Cody, and it is now standing up looking at... wait...

Oh my God...

"Gwen!" I gasp. I begin to regret ripping up her letter. Karma, my friend. You reap what you sow.

"Einstein! Get back up here!" I hear Chef shouting, and I spy him on the balcony. "No more sight seeing for--OH MY GOD!!" He must have spotted the scene before me.

Still somewhat panicking, I make my leave. Gwen follows, but my speed far surpasses hers. From the looks of things, she has a slight limp.

I reach the ladder and climb, climb, climb! She doesn't get a chance, but damn, was that horrifying!

_(Clink, clank, clink, clank, up the ladder we go...)_

As soon as I reach floor, Chef slams the trap door shut. "Move, maggot! Move!"

We run as fast as we can to the unlocked door on the other side of the room, but Chef stops us. "You foo'! Ain'tcha neva seen a switch on a doorknob before?" He unlocks the one locked door in the room, and we head through it.

That was a good call on Chef's part. We're in the room with the staircase.

"Go on, keep moving, soldiers!" he shouts at us, and we run up the stairs.

_(...Meh, I got nothing for this one.)_

We continued our backtrack up the facility: the blocked-off room, the Chess room, the cafeteria (where I first officially witness the carcasses of Courtney and Duncan), the "Team Three" hallways, the second basement hallway, and finally... the second basement save room. Why do I say "finally"? Well...

Chk-chk.

...That's why...

I turn to Chef, wide-eyed. "What the hell?!"

"You, red-head, get your asses away from that ladder."

...Okay, you know something is either ridiculously idiotic or ridiculously convoluted when I'M confused...

Then I hear a slow clapping sound.

No...

It can't be...

A figure rises from his hiding spot behind the desk.

No!

NO!

"I SAID GET YOUR ASSES AWAY FROM THAT LADDER!!"

I listen to Chef this time, stepping away from my ticket to freedom. Izzy, on the other hand, probably to tease Chef, heads for the latter anyway.

**BANG!**

No, he didn't hit Izzy... but he wasn't aiming for her either. He shot the wall right next to her, causing her to realize the seriousness of this situation. Without another thought, she steps away from the ladder as well.

"Take five, Chef."

Grumbling, Chef lowers his gun.

I hear the smug guffaw of the bastard behind the desk, and I explode. "CHRIS!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Oh, I'll tell yoooooooooooou what's going on," the television host begins, his fingers pressed together in a sinister fashion. "See, Total Drama Island was the idea of several television executives--the 'higher-ups', if you will." He pauses, as if trying to think of what to say next. "One of these 'higher-ups', in particular, is basically Satan incarnate."

Chef nods to confirm Chris's explanation.

Chris continues. "Here's the thing. If one or two... or even three campers die, we can pass it off as an accident on set; something that resulted from the camper's stupidity. The waivers you all signed keep us away from accident liability, and any testimony that a surviving camper may have can be considered a result from traumatic experiences and vivid imaginations. At any rate, less deaths equal better outcome for us producers." The... The audacity of this man... "However... when more than half of the campers happen to die, things start to get a little fishy. It's no longer seen as an accident, but as something that I allowed to happen on my watch."

"You DID allow it to happen on your watch!" I point out in a mix of shock and anger.

"As I was saying... considering the campers who had died--most of whom were very smart, I might add--you can't pass it off as an accident. Not to mention... Raccoon City? Some people may have forgotten about it now, but once this shows up on the news, it'll jog everyone's memory, and the story will be all the more believable.

"And that's why... no one can leave this place. Ever."

I'm not sure if my anger had disappeared, or if my shock just simply completely overwhelmed it, but at any rate the shock was winning. "...W...What?"

"If no one leaves, news doesn't get out," Chris explains. "No one must know of this. I'm prepared to call my employers and tell them that a bear is attacking our campgrounds. They'll search the island, but they won't find the bodies. And if they actually do find the facility, we'll all be long dead by then."

"Wait... so you... you're willing to die to save your image?"

"Oh, no. I assure you that's not the case. Remember when I mentioned 'Satan incarnate'?"

"...Vaguely, yes."

"Well, no matter what happens to me, the producers are going to get hit hard by this big time. However, if the world believes that a bear attack killed us all, it'll be deemed as an uncontrollable situation and the producers won't get hammered so hard. But if the world finds out what really happened, the whole executive board will be bankrupt by the time your parents are done with them. That's why you can't leave. You can't tell them what happened."

"As for you?"

"Hehehe... do you really think I want to go back there after all this? To go back out into a world with 'Satan incarnate' on my ass? You have no idea what she's like, Noah. She's evil. Brutal. You think I'M bad? Do you have any idea what will happen to me if I go back after all this? She will not only kill me--scratch that, she WON'T kill me! She'll want me to live so I can suffer! She'll tear my hair out, scratch my face off, rip my dick off and jam it up my ass--do you REALLY think I want to go back now? If I go back, my fate will be worse than the fate of some ridiculously idiotic asshole dickweed getting his face bashed in via socket wrench by a strange yet lovable inventor for constantly brutally bullying his religious love-interest! DON'T YOU SEE?! I CAN'T GO BACK, MAN!! ...And neither can you..."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr... You won't get away with this, Chris! I'll make sure of it, you son of a bitch!" I'd jump at the motherfucker, but I knew better. Chef was, no doubt, pointing the shotgun at me right now.

"Temper, temper, Noah," he smirks smugly. "Quite a mouth on someone who just lost someone... important to him?"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!" I lose all train of thought. I lean over the desk in an attempt to strangle the bastard.

"CHEF!! SHOOT 'IM!!" He shouts, but no shots come right away. Instead, I hear struggling behind me, and after a few seconds I hear a gunshot, but I'm still alive.

...Wait... I'm still alive?

Then what...?

"COME ON!!" Izzy calls out to me, and, my mind still rather cloudy, I obey, almost stepping on bits of Chef's gray matter in the process.

Izzy, you are one crafty son of a bitch.

"GO-GO-GO-GO-GOOOO!!" I yell, and Izzy and I hastily climb the ladder, Chris freaking out below. I give him one last glance before I leave the room, watching as he slams his hands on the typewriter keyboard.

**fadsk;l**

**-X-**

**And there you have Bombshell Two. Chris is the villain after all.**

**But just because both over-hyped bombshells are concluded doesn't mean there aren't any more surprises to come. No, there's one more major surprise coming up... After all... what would Resident Evil be without a final boss and an "explosive" turn of events?**

**Also, very special thanks goes to JoeMerl and The Kobold Necromancer for letting me mention their OCs. Sherri Deville (AKA "Satan Incarnate", according to Chris), Chris' even-more-villainous boss, is JoeMerl's character, and the three characters described in Chris' description of his fate are Colin, Joel, and Hannah from The Kobold Necromancer's Total Drama Battlegrounds.**


	22. Chapter 22, Izzy

IZZY

1:32 P.M.

SECOND BASEMENT SAVE ROOM

-X-

"Temper, temper, Noah. Quite a mouth on someone who just lost someone... important to him?"

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!"

"CHEF!! SHOOT 'IM!!"

What?! No one's shooting Noah on E-SCOPE'S watch!

I try to take the shotgun away from Chef. He's persistent, but I manage to get the upperhand, and in my defense (yeah, that's my excuse) I shoot him in the head.

I turn to Noah and beckon him. "COME ON!!" And he runs with me to the ladder.

"GO-GO-GO-GO-GOOO!!"

He doesn't have to tell me twice. We're up to the next floor in no time.

_(Clink, clank, clink, clank, up the ladder we go...)_

**Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooorrrrrrrrrrssssssssshhhhhhhhh...**

"...What...the...fucking...hell...was...that?" Noah manages to ask.

"Whoever it is, I hope it's friendly," I reply.

"Sounds friendly," he says sarcastically.

**Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooorrrrrrrrrrssssssssshhhhhhhhh...**

"Okay, seriously, this is bad." I can hear Noah gulp behind me.

"It'll be fine, Noah," I try to reassure him. "I mean, it's not the first time we've dealt with some sort of tragic disaster. Like, remember when Co--"

"That was ten minutes ago."

"Oh, yeah."

"I hope your words of encouragement improve, Izzy."

"E-Scope."

"Does it matter at this point?"

I scoff, rolling my eyes. "Noah, in this kind of situation, you can't be bitter! I mean, sure, it's hard. I understand that. But when you're bitter, you lose track of the situation, and you know what happens? You... watch this... you watching? ...DIE! That's right, DIE. So don't give me any of this emo bullshit, because it's only going to hinder the both of us. This is a life-or-death situation, and face it, E-Scope has some experience in field of life-or-death situations."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Dammit, Noah, quit being such a--"

**Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooorrrrrrrrrrssssssssshhhhhhhhh...**

"...Yeah, that," I finish. "Thank you, mysterious, creepy--"

"Izzy, maybe we should go while we're still ALIVE."

"Alright, alright, fine."

We hadn't even made it to the other side of the machine...

**Gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooorrrrrrrrrrssssssssshhhhhhhhh...**

"Okay, seriously! Let's get out of--!"

We heard something smash through a nearby door.

"Oh, shit..."

"Um... wasn't that the door Harold went through?" Noah asks, and I nod.

Whatever had caused that door to break into several pieces has finally emerged from the door. It is horrifyingly grotesque! A large, rotting zombie with half of its skin torn to shreds, that looks like it was all hopped up on steroids and other enhancement drugs, with a bad haircut and dorky glasses... wait a minute...

"No... fucking... way..."

"Noah?"

"...Yeah...?"

"RUN, BITCH!! RUUUUN!!!"

Panicking, we both bolt through the main door, and up the stairs.

_(...Still got nothing...)_

Noah stops to take a breath, and I am forced to wait for him. I don't want him to die down here, not after all he's gone through already. Cody would want him to live. Even if he was mad at him at the end there, he wouldn't wish death on his best friend.

"Come on, Noah, we have to get out of here!"

"I'm... not used... to running... this much..."

We hear the door smash behind us.

"But I'll be willing to make an exception here!"

We start running again. Oh, God... I begin to panic again. What would Owen do at a time like this? ...Oh right, he'd probably push me into that Super-Mega-Harold.

"He's gaining on us!"

We turn around the corner, and Noah quickly whips me around and takes us through a side door. Super-Mega-Harold must not have seen it, because he didn't try to break down the door afterward. We seem to have lost him.

I look around the room. "Hey, this is that one office we were in earlier."

"Yeah, it pays to remember this shit," he replies, panting like crazy.

"Yo! Didn't your mama ever teach y'all some manners or somethin'?"

Wait... Was that...?

We turn toward the office desk. Leshawna is kneeling behind it, looking up at us with concern.

"Leshawna!" I cry happily, and out of the corner of my eye I think I see Noah almost faint. "You're alive!"

"Yeah, I'm alright..." She frowns. "We're the only ones left, aren't we?"

"Not including the guys still at the switch area, possibly, if any of them stayed behind, that is," Noah says, his palms making their way up to his forehead. "And Chris, the bastard..." He kneels down, and begins to breath heavily. I can almost hear his silent sobs.

Leshawna nods. "I've been through a lot, too. I got drugged, thrown into a little jail cell, and... well..." She stands up, revealing a fourth person in the room.

"...Lindsay?!" I ask in shock. But... but...

The blonde slowly stands up from her lying position, steadily using the desk to prop herself up. She's about to speak, but Leshawna stops her.

"Girl, you need to rest. Here, sit down." She gestures toward the chair, and Lindsay, without saying a word, obeys. Leshawna looks back up at us. "Here's what happened. I stumbled across this room with security monitors. They recorded all the stuff that's been happening here at the facility: Courtney's death, Cody shooting Trent, Geoff and Bridgette's last make-out session. And they had all been watched recently."

"Chris," Noah concludes.

"Yes. And the bastard drugged me and put me in this little jail cell. And when I woke up, Lindsay here had let me out."

"I was... trying to find... alive people..." Lindsay whimpers.

"Hush, hon," Leshawna insists. "Let me tell the story, 'kay?" She turns her attention back to us. "Lindsay said her team had wandered into a locker room, and the door jammed. Apparently, the zombies were so busy eating the others that Lindsay managed to escape with one of her credit cards."

"If there's... one thing... I can thank Heather for... it's teaching me how... to do that..."

"Sug', just rest." Leshawna takes another deep breath, this time more forced, before continuing. "She started looking around the facility for survivors, and she managed to find a ladder up to a room on this floor. She used her credit card on that and another door in the hall and managed to find an elevator.

"She started using the elevator to search for the others, but she didn't have any luck. But finally, she managed to find me in the cell. She waited for me to wake up, and when I did, she helped me escape."

"So wait..." I interrupted. Sorrow began to engulf my entrails. "Owen's... dead?"

"And Beth... and T-T-Tyler..." Lindsay winces, and holds up her arm, revealing a gruesome amount of flesh torn off. "And me..."

"Lindsay, please rest," Leshawna says motherly, and the blonde goes silent again, sobbing. Leshawna continues, "We both decided it'd be easier to search for survivors together, so we went back to the elevator and went up a floor. And this time... we found someone..."

"Not..." Noah starts, but Leshawna nods. I'm not sure if she has ESP, or if she's just guessing, but right now I don't care. Owen... my poor Owen...

"We ended up in some sort of theatre. A pretty fancy one, too. But we hadn't walked three steps, and then... then..." She chokes back a few tears. "I've never cried like that in my whole life. But I saw her rise up... cold... dead... unfeeling. And Lindsay... she thought that was normal. Gwen always seemed cold and unfeeling to her. So she tried to rescue her, despite me telling her not to. I knew what happened to her, but Lindsay didn't..."

"And Gwen bit her."

Lindsay nods, her sobs slightly louder than before.

"We rushed back to the elevator," Leshawna says. "Gwenie wasn't very fast... it looked like she had a bum leg. But the damage had been done." She gestures toward Lindsay's bite. "Lindsay still wanted to look for survivors anyway. The girl's got heart." She chokes back some more tears. "But when we got up here, she collapsed. So I brought her in here."

"Is... is that a gun?" Lindsay suddenly blurts out, pointing toward the shotgun in my possession.

"Uh... yeah. Why?"

"When... When I turn into one of them..." She gulps. "I want you to do the hors d'oeuvre."

"Honor, hon," Leshawna corrects. Wow, that one was a little too ditzy, even for Lindsay. The virus must already be starting its thing or something.

Wait... she wants ME to shoot her?

I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I've never thought of shooting someone. I mean, hell, I just blew Chef's brains out!

But... can I shoot LINDSAY'S brains out?

Even if she is a monster, I'm not sure I can do that. She's too sweet!

...But... if she wants me to...

"I'll do it," I say, giving her a thumbs up. She weakly smiles at me before her eyes slowly begin to shut...

And they didn't open again.

Leshawna checks her pulse. She gasps, and her face falls. I think I see tears falling from her face.

"Izzy?"

I turn to my little snobby homo friend. "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry."

...Okay, when I get confused, THAT'S a bad sign.

"What are you talking about?"

"All those times I didn't want you around because you annoyed the hell out of me... and you still saved my life..." He pauses for a moment, and it seems like he's trying to think of what to say. But all he comes up with is, "Thank you."

And that's enough for me. "No problem, Noah, my man!" I give him a military-style salute, but he doesn't smile. I don't blame him. It's going to take a lot of my shenanigans to get him smiling again. ...Well, the shenanigans that he actually likes... which aren't very many.

Without another word, Noah takes a deep breath, and walks toward the typewriter. I figure he's going to rant again, and I peer over his shoulder to see what he types. It brings me to tears.

**My name is Noah. And this may just be the last few minutes of my life...**

**-X-**

**I know, a little serious for an Izzy chapter, but you have to take in account all the crap that's been happening too. Think of it as character development: notice how Izzy seems to go from at least semi-Izzy-esque to a more serious Izzy (which, let's face it, Izzy can be serious when she wants to be. It's very rare, but it happens).**

**Also, this is why I love feedback. If it wasn't for Kobold mentioning the possibility that Lindsay and/or Beth could still be alive, I probably wouldn't have had this sad little chapter, and therefore nothing to truly explain why Gwen was scratching the elevator (the original idea was that she could "sense" Chris use the elevator, but I think this new idea makes more sense, as it would explain why she went to the elevator in the first place) or how Leshawna managed to escape her prison (which would've happened whether or not Lindsay was alive). Also, special thanks to cuttieartgirl for requesting another Izzy chapter, which I honestly wasn't planning on doing--I was planning on doing something with Leshawna, but I didn't have very many ideas for it, especially since, again, I wasn't planning on using Lindsay at all for this part at first. So thank you both. : D**

**I just hope that the lack of craziness in this chapter compared to the first Izzy chapter doesn't upset anyone. : P**


	23. Chapter 23, Leshawna

LESHAWNA

1:55 P.M.

SMALL OFFICE

-X-

Why did this have to happen?

My thoughts are so all over the place that I can barely hear the clicking of the typewriter only a few meters away. Gwen is dead, Bridgette is dead, Trent is dead, Cody is dead, Lindsay is dead...

And Harold...

Agh! Why didn't we listen to him?! Why didn't we take his warning to heart?

And Why, in God's name, would we trust CHRIS over HAROLD?!

UGH! We were so foolish! This whole thing could've been prevented! Owen could've just kept his damn money, and Chris would've sent us all home. To our families. Our families that will someday soon have to realize the cold hard truth that their son or daughter is dead because some sadistic white asshole sent them into the lions' den!

"Should we leave?" I hear Izzy ask. This worries me. Izzy had always acted on impulse before. And now... now she's scared? Now she's asking Noah what to do? This is something you'd think Izzy would know all about: when to strike, when to run, when and how to counter zombie attacks.

...This is it... We gonna die, ain't we?

"Anytime is as good as any," Noah replies, standing up. "Never trust the silence."

Suddenly, an alarm sounds.

**THIS FACILITY WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES...**

"...But now would be fantastic."

"That was Chris, wasn't it?" I ask, but it was a rhetorical question; we all figure it was he who started the self-destruct sequence.

"Go! Now!" Noah shouts, and we head toward the door...

**Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip**

**Grrrrrrrooooooorrrrrrrsshhhhh**

"HOLY CRAP!!"

I can't believe my eyes.

Harold just ripped the door off its hinges!

Izzy raises her shotgun, but Harold reaches out, grabs it, and throws it behind him, out into the hallway. He turns back toward us and "grorshes" again.

Noah panics and shoves the chair with Lindsay's body still slumped on it at the former string bean. Though the result is horrific, it does give us time to escape the room.

We run toward the nearest door, and I could hear flesh being ripped from the room we just left.

"OPEN THE DOOR!!" Izzy shouts.

"Wait!" Noah suddenly speaks up. "We have to hold him off!"

"WHAT?! Are you crazy?!" I yell at the brainiac.

"If we run, Harold will chase us out! And with no way of quick escape off the island, Harold will hunt us down one by one and kill us all!" Noah explains. "We need to make sure Harold is here when the place blows!"

"But what about--"

"I've got an idea. Shawny, where's the elevator on this floor?"

"Through that door," I say, gesturing toward a door at the end of the hall. "Why? ...Wait, you're not saying..."

"Mm-hmm..."

"And how exactly are you gonna trap Harold in the elevator?"

"You have a better idea, Shawny?"

"Let's do it!" A little bit of Izzy's excited side comes back, and it lifts my spirits. "I'll come up with a way! Just watch!"

We hear Harold "grorshing" again, and I nod violently. "Okay, we'll do it! Just get us out of here!"

At that, Harold reenters the hallway and turns toward us. Blood is splattered all over him, and he holds a blood-stained bandana in his hand.

Noah tries to shoot the monster, but Harold still stands strong by the time Noah empties his gun. "Shit!" He throws the gun down. "Izzy, plug his ass!"

"He threw my gun away, remember?"

"We were in the hallway this whole time and you DIDN'T PICK UP THE GUN?!"

"...Oops."

Harold is advancing on us... slowly. As if he's waiting for us to run.

He's toying with us.

"What now?!"

...

I look into the creature's eyes.

It... it's a crazy thought...

But if it works...

And if it doesn't, at least it'll give Noah and Izzy enough time to escape if he's eating me...

"Har...Harold?"

The creature continues to advance.

"Sh...Sugar babe?"

Still getting closer...

"Harold... I...I-I love you, white boy."

Stops...

...

...It...It worked?

"Harold, I know you're dead and all... but it's... it's still you, right? Baby?"

Either it's working or zombie Harold is confused as hell.

"Harold, please... let us go..."

...

"You... you wanted to save us, right? Save me?"

...

"Leshawna, what the hell are you doing?" Noah finally asks in horror, and I shush him. I turn back to the former string bean.

"Harold, please let us escape. We love you, babe. I love you."

...

Oh my God...

I think it's actually working.

Harold is backing up.

...

Then I hear a gunshot, and Harold groans in pain.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU DUMB FUCK?!" Another gunshot, and I glance to see Chris, who's now wielding Izzy's forgotten shotgun. "KILL 'EM! KILL 'EM!" He shoots Harold again, and Harold cries in horrific agony, now on one knee.

Chris groans and cocks his gun again. "Fuck it. You want something done right..." He quickly points the gun to me and I flinch in fear, my eyes tightly shut. I'm frozen in place from my fear.

...

The shot never comes.

But clicking does.

"Stupid gun! Work!" He groans, realizing that the gun was out of ammunition. He throws the gun on the ground. "You stupid monster, KILL THE FUCKING BRA--ACK!!"

The television producer was cut off by Harold lifting him up by his throat.

Suddenly, Noah runs to the door at the end of the hall. "Hey, Harold!" he shouts, getting the monster's attention. "This way! And take that trash with you!"

As if he understood what Noah was saying (or perhaps he really did), Harold obeyed and carried the host toward the open door. No longer frozen, I run with Izzy toward the door, watching as Noah heads for the elevator door and pushes the down button. The doors open, and Noah gestures for the big zombie to throw Chris into the elevator. Afterwards, Noah reaches in to push a button and runs away from the elevator, which surprises me--I thought he was going to push Harold in as well.

Noah runs out of the room, locking the door before shutting it--probably a preemptive measure to slow down Harold in case he chases us again. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!"

He didn't have to tell me twice...

We find ourselves running again. The alarm is accompanied by a countdown. We only have a minute left.

We head through the door across the way, past Justin's rotting corpse and the messy room beyond. We're now at the final stretch.

Forty seconds left.

Past the two paintings on the wall.

Past the rusted out lockers.

All the way to the large room at the end.

Thirty seconds left.

"What's going on?" I hear DJ say as we enter the entrance way.

"NO TIME! GO!"

Without question, all but one run out of the facility with us. But a confused Ezekiel stays frozen in place.

Twenty seconds left.

"COME ON, HOMESCHOOL!" I shout, grabbing his arm. Finally he gets the message and we head for the facility doors.

Fifteen seconds left.

Come on, Shawny, don't give up now. You're almost there.

Ten seconds left.

There's the door.

You're almost out.

Five...

Don't give up now.

Four...

Up the steps, Shawny. Come on.

Three...

Two...

One...

**-X-**

**I am so evil. No, wait. "I am RESIDENT EVIL, yes, bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"**

**...That joke sucked; sorry about that.**

**I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this story. Thanks for all the feedback; God knows I love it. : ) And thanks for the faves as well. You guys rock!**

**And no, the story's not quite over yet. There are one or two more chapters to go yet.**

**But there's probably one thing that's pissing you off right now, and I want to apologize. I bet you guys were hoping that Chris's death would be something for the ages: a gory and gruesome death for the evil bastard whose decisions resulted in the deaths of many at Camp Wawanakwa. A death that would be fitting for such a villainous asshole. And all I gave you here was a man being shoved into an elevator to await being blown up by the facility. Not so gory, not so gruesome, and certainly not so fitting. A quick and assumedly painless death? Pfft. So not fitting for this prick. So I understand if you are upset. And believe me when I say from the bottom of my heart that I am sorry...**


	24. Chapter 24, Chris

**...for making you wait even longer for the real thing.**

**What, you didn't think Chris was going to get off THAT easily, did you?**

**-X-**

CHRIS

1:50 P.M.

CIRCULAR ROOM

-X-

Heh-ha-ha! Those guys think they can escape... HA! I know what happened to Harold. If he hasn't eaten them yet, he will soon.

Another thing I know though, something I found out when searching the control room... In case Harold doesn't kill 'em, well, at least this machine here doesn't _just_ control the switches above.

Now what was that code again?

Um...

Zom-bie.

...No.

Let's see...

Wa-wa-na-kwa.

Crap...

Hmm...

Um-brel-la.

Crap!

Uh...

Ty-rant.

Nope.

Hmm...

Wait, it was a name, wasn't it?

Yes, I remember it now.

Some guy that made this advanced strain of vi... yes!

Wil-li-am.

Nope...

...

Last name then?

Bir-kin.

An alarm sounds. YES!

**THIS FACILITY WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN TEN MINUTES...**

YES! Ha ha!

Now to make sure the job gets done...

I make my way back up to Ashford Hall. Harold better have slowed them down, anyway.

Make my way around the corner and...

Yes! YES! Harold's got 'em cornered! Heh-ha-ha!

"Har... Harold?"

...What the...?

"Sh...Sugar babe?"

What the hell is she...?

"Harold... I... I-I love you, white boy."

What the...?

HE STOPPED?!

NO!!

YOU DUMB OAF!! KILL 'EM!!

DAMMIT!!

I spy something on the ground. Is that...? Ha! Hahaha! Yes! I pick it up. Red dropped her shotgun! Priceless!

I pick it up and cock it. I shoot Harold in the back. He bellows.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, YOU DUMB FUCK?!" I fire again. "KILL 'EM! KILL 'EM!" I fire yet again, and the creature falls to a knee.

"Ugh!" I groan, cocking my shotgun once more. "Fuck it. You want something done right..." I quickly aim the gun at Leshawna and pull the trigger.

...

What the...?

No ammo?!

"Stupid gun! Work!" Frustrated, I throw the gun to the ground and stare down the brute formerly known as Harold. "You stupid monster! KILL THE FUCKING BRA--"

AGH!!

AGH!!

ACK!!

GAK!!

Let... go... of... me!

Can't... breathe...

Where... where are you taking me, you overgrown piece of--

ACK!!

Thud.

Ow... my head.

"Buh-bye," Noah says as he pushes a button, and the elevator doors close.

Ugh! Those kids! They ruined everything!

I try to stand up, but I still haven't gotten my bearings after Harold threw me into this elevator.

...Well, on the bright side, Sherri can't torture me now. I'm already dead! Heh-ha-ha!

And I bet the explosion will cause this cave to cave in. Those fuckers... I bet they won't get out on time.

So I win.

I win! Heh-ha-ha!

And the best part is... my death will be quick and painless! When the explosion comes, it'll just be a quick second, and I won't feel a thing! No agony, no torture, no nothing! Haha! Even in death, I win! Chris Maclean always wins! ALWAYS!!

The elevator stops, and suddenly my excitement does too.

Wait...

What... is... that... noise?

Sounds like... scratching...

The doors open.

No...

My face drains of color. My heart sinks. Sheer terror fills the air and clogs my lungs--I can no longer breathe.

My eyes fall on two pairs of feet, one clad in tennis shoes, the other in combat boots. Slowly, my eyes trail upwards to meet theirs, the dead teal eyes haunting me, the cold black eyes taunting me. Fresh blood dripping from blue lips, and low guttural moans that nightmares are made of.

"NO!!" I futilely try to hide in the corner of the elevator. No deal. They spot me. And they're hungry.

"G-Gwen..." Hey, this worked for Leshawna, didn't it? "Y-You were always my favorite. And C-Cody, you t-totally should've gotten the g-girl; I was rooting for you the whole t-t-t--AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" I clench my eyes shut, feeling a sudden rush of blood squirt out of me. PLEASE tell me what I think happened didn't... I open my eyes, and freak out. HE TORE MY FUCKING ARM OFF!!

...Wait, NOT THE FACE!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

I fall to the elevator floor in the pool of my own blood. Why aren't I fucking dead?! This... this... this is punishment, isn't it? Yeah... I get it now. I deserve to fucking die a horrible fucking death. I get it! Just please... have mercy on m--

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

MY LEG! YOU TOOK MY LEG TOO?!

WHY DON'T YOU TAKE MY FUCKING DICK WHILE YOU'RE AT--

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!

...Please... just kill me now...

**:03**

Please... no more--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!

**:02**

Aaaaaugh...

**:01**

Help... me...

**:00**

**BWOO--**

**YOU ARE DEAD**

**-X-**

**And with that, there is only one chapter left to go.**

**Again, I own nothing. Total Drama is owned by Fresh TV. Resident Evil (Biohazard) is owned by Capcom.**


	25. Chapter 25, Epilogue

**I see I didn't disappoint with that last chapter. XD**

**In case I forgot to mention it before, and since I'm too lazy to check now, I do have the floor maps to the facility submitted to my DeviantART account. It'd be a good idea to check that out in case my description of the layout of the facility confused the hell out of you.**

**n5d25d90 . deviantart . com / art / Total - Drama - Biohazard - Maps - 143003942**

**Copy and paste that into your address bar and take out the spaces, and it should lead you to the page. And please ignore the obvious proportion issues. XD**

**As usual, I don't own crap.**

**-X-**

The cave lit up as the facility began to blow. The giant door blew off its hinges toward the steps, just narrowly missing Ezekiel and Leshawna as they climbed up.

Ezekiel yelped in shock, but Leshawna continued to help the homeschooled teen up the steps. The cave was starting to shake from the initial explosion. They had little time before they could escape with their lives. Stalactites began to fall, stalagmites began to crumble. Small rocks rained down like hail, and it wouldn't be long before something bigger would lose its hold.

The explosions became more intense as the two raced for the exit. The others were already out of the cave, making their way to the campsite.

"Come on, Zeke," she supported him to keep him going--he was looking a little worse for the wear. But they would somehow, someway, make it out in one piece... almost. A falling stalactite gave Leshawna a nasty cut on her arm.

As if in an action movie cliché, when they reached sunlight, they dove, just in time to miss large pieces of shrapnel and the climactic points of the explosion in the cave, which, as Chris had predicted, caused it to cave in.

The two rolled on their backs and looked back at what was left of the cave once the explosions stopped. They just barely made it out with their lives.

And as if in another cliché, Leshawna started noticing her cut. "Agh!"

Even Ezekiel winced along with her. "Ouch, eh." Then his lips began to quiver. "So... what... what happened to... um... the others, eh?"

Leshawna turned to the boy. Tears started forming, and she shook her head. "They... didn't make it, hon."

Ezekiel frowned in sorrow and looked back at what used to be the cave entrance to the facility. "They... they died?" His eyes began to water too.

Leshawna could only sob.

"I..." Ezekiel began, shaking his head, "woon't... forget... aboot _this_, eh."

Somewhere, closer to camp, a redhead sneezed.

-X-

Noah sighed with relief as Leshawna and Ezekiel entered the lodge. Not knowing that the two stopped at the medical tent on the way there, he thought that maybe the two were caught in the explosion.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said, holding his forehead as he sat down.

"No... I'm far from it." She sat down across from him. "And from the looks of things, you ain't feelin' okay either."

"You'd be right..." He rested his head on the table. "I mean, don't get me wrong... I'm actually very happy to be alive, and I'm glad the others made it out too, but..." He sighed. "I... just wish Cody was here, you know?"

She placed an elbow on the table to hold her head up. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Harold, Bridgette, Gwen..."

Noah looked back up at her, mouth agape. "Oh, Shawny, I'm sorry."

Leshawna gave him a weird look. Noah had never apologized before, as far as she knew. And why was he apologizing, for that matter? "What for?"

"I'm sitting here groveling as if I'm the only person that lost someone special to him." He looked away; for reasons even he couldn't explain, he just couldn't look into her eyes. He began to drum his fingers on the table. "And I know that's definitely not the case."

"Don't apologize for that, hon," Leshawna told him, reaching out to hold one of his hands, finally getting him to look at her. "Like you said, you lost someone special to you. It's hard to think about what others are going through when something like that happens."

He nodded, but his face fell again. "I just wish he didn't hate me at the end."

"Hate you?"

He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well... Cody and I... we were arguing... I did some things... words were said... Bottom line is, I'm sure I was the last thing on his mind when he died."

"Noah..." Leshawna began. "Y'all gotta quit talkin' like that. You got into an argument. Everyone does."

"Do these arguments always lead to death?"

"...No, not usually... but that's not the point. Cody didn't hate you, boy. I've seen you guys hanging out and stuff. He was always happy when you were around. So if you ask me, he really did love you, like--"

"--a brother, but he loved me nonetheless," Noah finished, sighing. All it did was remind him of Cody and Gwen, and how his own relationship with Cody was no different. What is it about us, he wondered, that we tend to go after forbidden fruit?

"...Um, yeah. So..." She didn't know what else to say; what she thought would help seemed to hurt him even more. "Did you... um... call for help?"

"Eva and DJ are looking for some sort of radio," Noah told her.

"And you ain't goin' to help them?"

"They said they'd bring it back here. I think Eva went along to protect the brickhouse from bear attacks."

"Ah."

-X-

It would be a long four hours before help would come. Perhaps the producers weren't so heartless after all--they had helped the rescue team find the campers.

As the rescue team helped Noah, Izzy, and Leshawna board one of the helicopters, the three survivors took notice of a woman in a suit and high heels. Her smile seemed welcoming, warming, but her gray eyes told another story.

"Hello, munchkins..." she began, and right away Izzy felt her "E-Scope senses" tingling--something wasn't right with this lady. "My name is Sherri, and I am one of the producers for Total Drama Island. I'm also in charge of legal issues at the station."

"A pleasure," Noah mumbled sarcastically.

"...Yes, well... I'm here because I assume the _motherfucker_ you knew as _Chris_ is the reason why nearly _everyone_ on the fucking show is _dead_." She took a deep breath; the three survivors could practically feel the headache projecting out of this intimidating woman. "I'll have you know that Chris's actions do not reflect the... _morale_ of the other producers. The little _bitch_ shouldn't have even been paid chicken _shit_, let alone chicken feed." She paused to adjust her glasses. "I assure you that the producers as a whole do not condone whatever acts Chris had pulled, and we are very... _sorry_ for the losses." She put on a fake smile. "So... there's no hard feelings... right?"

"...Excuse me?" Noah asked, now appalled. Leshawna and Izzy didn't speak--their angry glares had voices of their own.

"Well, there's no reason to bring a lawsuit into this, right?" she laughed nervously. "I mean, we had no idea anything like this would or even _could _happen. So we can't possibly be held liable for... these unfortunate happenings..."

"...Are you Satan Incarnate?" Izzy asked, and the woman fumed.

_"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME?! I AM--" _she stopped, blinking a few times before flashing another "innocent" smile. "I apologize. That was rude of me. Now... just make it clear that the producers are free from any potential lawsuits coming our way..."

Noah cleared his throat. "Well, um... Satan?"

"Sherri."

"Sherri, right. Uh... you can tell your producer pals that they have nothing to be worried about. I, for one, have no plans of suing them."

"Oh, thank you, Mister... uh... last name please?"

"...What are you thanking me for? I didn't say I wasn't going to sue _you_."

She found herself stuttering. "Wha-wha-wha, but you said--"

"I said I wasn't suing _them_. I never said I wasn't suing _you_."

A short pause followed, during which the woman's face turned a violent red. She glared at Noah with an extreme intensity, scaring Leshawna and even Izzy. Noah, however, did not look phased. _"YOU ASS-SUCKING FUCK-FACE!!" _she shrieked. _"YOU'RE LUCKY I EVEN RESCUED YOU FROM THIS ISLAND!! HOW _DARE _YOU SUE ME?! I COULD HAVE YOUR FUCKING ASS THROWN WAY OUT INTO THE FUCKING LAKE IF I WANTED TO!!"_

"And then you'll open yourself up to more lawsuits, wouldn't you?" Noah explained. "The lawsuits are inevitable, Sherri. The families of the deceased aren't going to like finding out about their child's death, so they're obviously going to do something about it. And so will my family if you throw me out of this helicopter. Not to mention the rescue squad over here being eye-witnesses, so getting rid of the witnesses is out, unless you want to be on the RCMP Most Wanted list."

"Like me!" Izzy interrupted, raising her hand.

"Yes, like Izzy."

Sherri growled at the brainiac. "You don't know who you're messing with, _young man_. _I am Sherri Deville! You're_ just a contestant on a _stupid reality show_."

"An average Joe--the type that will most likely get the sympathy of the common folk, would he not?"

Growling with sheer hatred, Sherri stood up. Two rescue workers held her back to keep her from lunging at the bookworm. _"YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY, YOU COCK-SUCKING FAGGOT!!"_

"I already do," Noah grimly muttered, looking out the window down to Wawanakwa Island, a site he hoped he would never have to see again.

-X-

As Chris had predicted, for once in her life Sherri Deville had lost, as did the rest of the producers of the show. If the lawsuits weren't bad enough, the negative PR had ultimately bankrupted the entire network. The survivors had gone public: news reports of the Wawanakwa Outbreak, the last hoorah of the beloved reality television series Total Drama Island, were shown all over the globe; even those who had never even heard of the show now knew of the horrible event.

One mother knew something was wrong before she even found out the news--crackpot, maybe, but two healthy lizards don't just die in one day by sheer chance. It was as if their spirits had left with her own daughter.

The survivors were reunited with their families, all thankful that their loved ones were safe and sound. Some of the families even put forward the effort to find and grieve with the families of the deceased. Two families in particular had grieved together on more than one occasion: Noah's and Cody's.

DJ and Eva had developed somewhat of a trust system during their search for Chris's radio that day. After a long while of grieving and doubt, their trust developed into something more. Noah actually smiled when he found out. If there was any possible good thing that could've come out of that damned day, other than the beginning of the network's end, it was this.

Ezekiel was reunited with his "girlfriend." He was overtaken with joy as he held the scarecrow close.

"A... Al... Alexia!"

Somewhere halfway across the country, a redhead sneezed.

Katie and Sadie underwent therapy. Then their therapist underwent therapy.

Leshawna, Izzy, and Noah, the three who actually went through the depths of the facility and survived, had become rather close friends, especially during the time they went public with the story. At first, the story seemed farfetched to the news media, until a phone call to one of the news stations confirmed the facility's existance. A man by the name of Barry Burton had made the call. He reminded them of the once normal town in Midwestern U.S.A: Raccoon City. With the help of his old comrade Chris Redfield, he helped spread the survivors' story to every major nation of the world, in hopes that something like this would never happen again.

And Noah may have been a skeptic, especially when it came to this, but if there really was someone up there, an omniscient being of some sort, a god, he would pray that something like that would never, ever, _ever _happen again...

-X-

The island was now deserted. Camp Wawanakwa was no more, and never would be.

Wasteland, that's what it was. Devoid of life.

...Or was it...?

...

...Is that a hand I see?

...

**...Grrrooooorrrshhh...**

**-X-**

**Can you say "mind fuck"?**

**Sorry for the suckish ending, but... it's Resident Evil, come on.**

**In all seriousness, I really do hope the ending wasn't too lame. XD A part of me wasn't quite sure exactly how to finish it. Most of the major plot points had already been used by the time I got to the final chapter, and I didn't actually have any for this one. I pretty much just went with my gut, and it probably showed. XD**

**Also, before I forget, Sherri Deville is JoeMerl's OC. And yes, if you recall, that is "Satan Incarnate," according to Chris.**

**Another note: the cliffie at the end... does NOT mean I'm making a sequel. ...Because I'm not. Come on, just about everyone's dead. Most of my favorite characters... wiped out several chapters ago. No villains, either. I doubt it'd be very exciting.**

**Again, thanks to everyone who likes this fic. You guys are awesome! : ) And if you don't like this fic, you're probably awesome too, but you just don't have the same tastes. That's cool. At one time I was not a big fan of zombie survival stuff--I thought the games all looked the same: you blow up a zombie, you solve a puzzle, you blow up another zombie, some guy in drag tries to shoot you and misses despite him having a friggin' laser scope... but yeah, I wasn't a big fan of it at one time, and I guess I'm still not much of one--I don't own very many zombie survival games XD--but I do like the ideas much more now than I did before. : D**

**And with that, I bid you farewell. ...Wow, hold on, let me tally it up a second... If I'm not mistaken, combining this AND Totally Condemned Island (which is totally not a rip-off of **_**The Condemned**_**... bah, I'm kidding. It's practically a novelization of the damn movie), I've killed off all twenty-four original characters at least once, some twice! Wow, I'm evil, aren't I? XD See you next time!**


End file.
